[meteorite-list] And somewhere in the world, Mike Farmer packs for India...

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Aug 9 19:01:24 2006
Message-ID: <lvpkd2pts725u6qtu3eejnaelslnrbks2k_at_4ax.com>

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1879050.cms

AHMEDABAD: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) was shocked to find that most of
the meteorite fragments it collected from villagers through state authorities,
were fake.

Apparently, most of the meteorite fragments that fell in and around Kutch last
month are either up for sale or remain undisclosed as curious by local residents
and officials.

On August 1, the GSI team collected meteorite pieces from Kutch and Saurashtra
given to them by the respective authorities. However, after examination of the
pieces, only about 80 gm have been found to be genuine meteorite.

This, experts say is insufficient for radiation studies. At least 500 gm of
meteorite sample is required. Because of the lack of sufficient quantity of
material, the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) was sent only 5 gm of sample on
Tuesday.

"For radiation studies, at least half-a-kilogram of the sample is required. A
5-gm sample is useful only after preliminary studies are done," a senior
scientist at PRL said.

Confirming that a large part of the material was "pseudo-meteorite", ZG
Gevariya, director, GSI Gandhinagar said that only a small part of sample could,
therefore, be sent for analysis to GSI, Jaipur and to PRL.

"Localites collected the material and it is likely they may have mistaken a
large part of it to be meteorite," he said. Of the 2.5 kg material collected in
Kutch, 1.5 kg turned out to be fake.

However, experts at PRL and GSI suspect that genuine samples were most likely
cornered by local residents or government authorities. "People have pocketed
most of the samples ? localites, to earn money and officials as a souvenir,"
said a senior geologist at GSI.

This, he said, is "nothing new" and happens every time there is a meteorite
fall. A member of the Kutch Astronomers' Club told TOI, "One piece was recently
offered as sale to a geologist friend of mine in Morbi for Rs 20,000."

During the Kendrapara meteorite fall in Orissa in 2003, meteorite pieces
weighing a few g were sold to tourists for $100 each. Dr SK Bhattacharya, dean
of PRL told TOI that during meteorite falls in remote places, it becomes
essential to send search teams to "build confidence among localites and coax
them into handing over the pieces to scientists".

"This happened during the Dhajala meteorite fall in 1976 also when localites
refused to part with samples because they wanted to sell or worship them," he
said. But Gevariya said that the department had not come across any reports of
people selling meteorite pieces.
Received on Wed 09 Aug 2006 06:58:11 PM PDT