[meteorite-list] Project Aims at Finding Meteorites in Canada

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jul 29 20:35:20 2005
Message-ID: <200507300034.j6U0YIl24474_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/Z01_00atresure0729.lasso

Treasure from space

Project aims at finding Prairie meteorites in our midst

BY NEAL TALBOT
Daily Herald-Tribune (Canada)
July 29, 2005

The Prairie Meteorite Search Project hasn't yet found any trace of the
elusive Grande Prairie Fireball, but may have found another meteor near
Manning.

Prairie Meteorite Search regional co-ordinator Tom Weedmark says a
potential meteorite was brought into a workshop in Manning last week,
but he has been unable to conclude his findings until Canadian meteor
expert Alan Hildebrand has a chance to look at the expected space rock.

"A rock found in the Manning area looks very promising right now, as
well as news of a potential meteorite crater," said Weedmark, while
hosting a meteor workshop in the Grande Prairie Public Library Thursday.

"Now it's just a matter of getting it confirmed."

The Prairie Meteorite Search Project is holding workshops across
northern Alberta this summer in hopes people will bring them potential
meteorites.

The project - run by the University of Calgary, University of Regina and
University of Western Ontario - began searching in 2000 and has located
eight new meteorites thus far, with the latest discovered in eastern
Manitoba earlier this month.

Weedmark says he's averaged about 10 people who bring rocks per stop on
his two-month cross-prairie tour, varying from a single rock to a near
pickup load.

The Prairie Meteorite Search Project aims its efforts mainly at farmers,
who discover most of the meteorites because they work so closely with
the ground and are prone to collecting unusual rocks.

Weedmark points out the last recorded Alberta meteorite was found in a
Fort MacLeod farmer's rock collection last year. The farmer had kept the
heavy, black and rust -coloured stone since 1992 before it was
identified by project officials.

Meteorites can be identified by a blackened outer crust burnt by the
earth's atmosphere, and a heavy metal content that will allow magnets to
stick to them.

Weedmark says the famous Grande Prairie Fireball, which ripped through
the night sky and was seen by hundreds of residents in 1984, is still
the key piece of local space history the project is after, but nothing
has turned up yet.

"We'd love to come away with a fragment of that meteor, and I've still
got one more stop in the area to find it," he said.

"Hopefully it will turn up tomorrow."

The Grande Prairie Fireball was last seen 30 kilometres southeast of
Grande Prairie and is believed to have fallen somewhere between the
Grovedale area and the British Columbia border.

The Edmonton Space Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, Royal Alberta
Museum and Grande Prairie Regional College have searched for the
meteor's final resting place, but no fragments have ever been found.

Sixty-four meteors have been recovered in Canada, with Alberta's 15
leading the way, closely followed by Saskatchewan at 14 and Ontario at 13.
Received on Fri 29 Jul 2005 08:34:17 PM PDT