[meteorite-list] Science Loses When PR Becomes Top Priority (Brenham Meteorites)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Nov 6 12:57:44 2006
Message-ID: <200611061757.JAA20338_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061106/OPINIONS02/611060326/1006/OPINIO

Science loses when PR becomes top priority
Kevin Evans
Voice of the Day
November 6, 2006

In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
"discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.

What the world doesn't know is that Katie Click, an 18-year-old high
school senior from Springfield, working on a project in conjunction with
her earth science teacher and Missouri State University scientists, made
a similar discovery just two miles away from the Kansas site, using the
same GPR technology, two weeks earlier.

The difference - aside from the reported $50,000 the museum paid for
their discovery - is that Katie was conducting her research for the
Ozark Science and Engineering Fair. Science teachers train young
scientists to formulate multiple working hypotheses, to test hypotheses
by making observations and collecting data, to integrate and interpret
the data, and to present the results in scientific meetings or
literature, where it is subject to critical review and discussion among
the scientific community. Unfortunately, in the course of conducting her
science fair project, she has just learned an important new step in the
scientific method - contact the media first.

There are also some factual issues related to the discovery that need to
be addressed. In the first place, this is not the first or biggest
Brenham meteorite found. Second, it is not the first use of GPR to image
buried impact craters or meteorites. In fact, it is not even the first
Brenham meteorite to be imaged using GPR. Katie did that two weeks
earlier when she pushed a GPR over Haviland crater, the only known
impact crater associated with the Brenham meteorite, and a short
distance away from the "discovery" locality.

It is ironic that two teams converged with the same ideas to determine
the age and image the impact horizon with GPR, since the last major
scientific effort to examine the Haviland crater and its
meteorite-strewn field was in 1933. Initial reports from the last
expedition mentioned the possibility of the largest meteorite fragment.
It turned out to be cable from an oil rig. Some later reports are also
in error. The precise age of the impact is unknown. The Earth Impact
Database estimate an age of 1,000-2,000 years, but these are only
estimates. Scientists in the 1960s confirmed that American Indian beads
made from the Brenham meteorite were found in burial mounds of the
Hopewell Culture, which lasted from 200 B.C. to 400 A.D., so the age of
the impact has to be at least 1,600 years old.

The bottom line is: you can't look at sediments and determine their ages
in the field. It requires careful laboratory analyses and collection of
samples from locations that are conducive to preserving carbon, such as
along a horizon rich in meteoritic material. The meteorite hunter who
guided the Houston science team clearly wasn't interested in gaining
contextual information on the fragmentation and impact of the Brenham
meteorite when he dug up meteorites over the last two years, including
the 650 kg specimen that was the second largest recovered.

The commercial meteorite market has a seamy underside. "Meteorite
hunter" may sound like an auspicious-sounding title, but it can be akin
to tomb raiding. Archeologists and paleontologists are all too familiar
with commercial collectors in their fields. Meteorites provide the same
opportunity. At best, meteorite hunters can provide rare or exotic
specimens for scientific study, but more often than not, vital
information is destroyed or specimens wind up in the hands of private
collectors.

When public institutions and government agencies partner with commercial
enterprises to hunt for meteorites and then publicize undocumented
claims, it short-circuits science methods and it sends the wrong message
to students. This concerns me both as a geologist and as a teacher of
future scientists.

In the last couple of weeks, there has been tremendous media attention
given to the Houston Museum of Natural History and NASA scientists'
"discovery" and recovery of a 154-pound Brenham meteorite fragment in a
Kansas wheat field. Their use of ground-penetrating radar was touted for
its potential in exploration of the planet Mars.

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Kevin Evans is an assistant professor of geography, geology and planning.
Received on Mon 06 Nov 2006 12:57:41 PM PST