[meteorite-list] The EL3/Aubrite/whatever - Why FOSSIL?

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 00:18:59 -0600
Message-ID: <15e601c834ab$3a1907b0$4b29e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Dean,

    I'm sure someone will have the paper and a
mountain of details, but the short-and-simple is:
it sat in a lake bottom which turned to a swamp
which turned to a "pan" and so forth as the Sahara
dried out and went from a wooded grassland with
lakes and rivers to a pocket edition of the Inferno.

    A "fossil" is when other minerals, by aqueous
alteration, replace the original (usually) organic
materials. In a meteorite, this is the extreme form
of weathering and terrestrialization. The term
"fossil" fits what happened to it, although people
leave those quotes around so you'll know the term
is by analogy to organic fossils.

    A lot of strange claims have been made about its
age because many mistakingly believe the Sahara is
an ancient desert. No, it was a pretty nice neighborhood
until the last ice age glaciation started to fail. Rain
started getting scarce in the eastern Sahara about
14,000 years ago and in the western Sahara about
12,000 years ago.

    Desertification is a long process. The NE Sahara
was home to prosperous Greek states until about 2200
years ago, and only 2000 years ago the NW Sahara
was one of the great Breadbaskets of the Roman Empire
and remained so until only 1600 years ago. Not much like
Iowa now, I understand...

    Hope that helps.


Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "dean bessey" <deanbessey at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 10:18 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] The EL3/Aubrite/whatever - Why FOSSIL?


I dont want to get involved in the thread about what
the classification is (I will be pretty happy no
matter what the proposed options are) but can somebody
explain to me why its called a "Fossil" meteorite?
I realize that the term "fossil" can be loosely used
to describe pretty much any old stuff (You could even
call a living person a "fossil" meaning a person with
old fashioned stubborn views) but given that this is a
scientific classification I would expect more rigid
use of the term in a scientific standpoint.
To become fossilized means that over a long peroid of
time (Usually millions of years) actual organic
material gets replaced by stone so that when you have
a fossil such as a dinosaur tooth, fossil shark tooth
or ammonite you actually have a rock and not a real
creature. No DNA can be extracted since its only a
rock. Thats why we dont even know if dinosaurs were
warm or cold blooded. We are only studying a rock when
we study dinosaur fossils - not a real original
artifact. So called mammoth tusk fossil or 10,000 year
old fossil buffalo bones are not really a fossil since
you get the original item - not a fossilized version.
Fossil insects and bacteria in amber is often not
fossilized even if millions of years old.
But the meteorite in question has not been fossilized.
The chrondrules are real chrondrules and not a
replaced with stone chrondrule. You are not getting a
calcified stone when you buy this "fossil" meteorite.
You are getting a real original meteorite (Even if
highly weathered and oxidized).
I realize that dealers (Including myself) call it a
fossil or paleo meteorite but can somebody explain to
me why it should be called a fossil (Or Paleo)
meteorite?
Thanks
DEAN
PS: If somebody wants 200 or 300 kilos of this email
me for details









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Received on Sun 02 Dec 2007 01:18:59 AM PST