[meteorite-list] What is it??

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Apr 11 02:25:23 2005
Message-ID: <93aaac89050410232560e84a92_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello All,
A few years ago I traveled to Meteor Crater with my father and older
brother. While we were there we did stop a few (~5-10) miles from the
crater, on public land near the highway. While there we found an
excellent ammonite, en matrix and a couple of small impactite
specimens. They are exactly as Nininger described them (on page 119
of "Arizona's Meteorite Crater." They are nearly opaque and the
interior is slightly lighter in color than a dark green bottle, the
exterior surface exhibiting a grey/black crust of fused sand (the
desert varnished one is grey, the formerly buried one is still black).
While I was working at the UCLA meteoritics lab the next summer I took
one up to get it set in epoxy and cut. The cut surface revealed a
small number of tiny shiny flecks of metal. If there's anyone out
there willing to make a thin section of it for me, please contact me
-- as long as it's not too expensive I should be able to afford it.
It's already prepared for grinding -- I made a pretty thin parallel
slice. If I have a thin section made I can get it looked at by some
of the folks up at UCLA with some seriously high tech equipment and
they should be able to define its origin. I can give pictures to
anyone who wants them -- I have no idea how to put pictures on a site,
or a site to put them on for that matter.
Jan's specimen could be impactite, however perfectly clear glass would
point to a removal of all (or nearly all) impurities before smelting
suggesting that it is a man-made artifact. Also, definition of "flow
lines" on the surface would have to have been caused by etching from
acid from the ground -- a piece of silica would never survive for that
long unchanged on the surface of the desert. Most ~5 year old bottles
in the Mojave show minor pitting due to sandblasting. A piece of
glass that old and in such good condition would have to have been
buried, and therefor exposed to acids in the ground. Many
indochinites display etching that did eat away at slightly less
resistant internal layers, creating the illusion of flow lines when in
fact the internal structure is what is really visible. So...it is
possible that Jan's piece of glass is in fact an impactite, however,
its color and complete transparency point towards a man-made form of
creation.
Regards,
Jason

On Apr 10, 2005 9:49 PM, E. L. Jones <jonee_at_epix.net> wrote:
> Actually folks..there IS a glass impactite found at Meteor Crater. I
> have read the research long ago but not sure Iremember what it looks
> like. I even think HHN wrote about it.
>
> Elton
>
> Jan Bartels wrote:
>
> >Hi List,
> >
> >A few weeks ago when we got married at the Meteor Crater one of the
> >crewmembers gave us a private rim tour. As a kind of wedding gift he gave
> >us this piece of glass like material which he found on the rim some
> >thirteen years ago . It has some grayish flakes included and even clearly
> >visible flowlines. It has a kind of tektite like exterior. It is no
> >fulgurite for sure but what is it??
> >
> >Anyone who can help us with this?. I haven't seen any of this before.
> >
> >http://www.heavenlybodies.nl/mercurius/images3/glassz.jpg
> >
> >http://www.heavenlybodies.nl/mercurius/images3/glass2z.jpg
> >
> >Thanks!!
> >Jan
> >www.heavenlybodies.nl
> >IMCA# 9833
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
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Received on Mon 11 Apr 2005 02:25:22 AM PDT