[meteorite-list] Some thoughts on Larry Atkin's Recent Holbrook Find

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:39:43 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <20070213223943.64742.qmail_at_web51706.mail.yahoo.com>

Thanks to John Gwilliam for posting his observations
from previous years experiences at Holbrook. Similiar
observations have been repeatably made at other strewn
fields in the SW USA.

Those who have had the benefit of being able to return
to strewn fields year after year (or even at different
seaons of the year), have been able to observe the
long-term changes, as well as, the seasonal
fluctuations. Those that have made subsequent finds
on previously searched surfaces have seen the evidence
of gradual deflation, or in the case of seasonal
changes, have witnessed surfaces that alternate
between being buried and then being exposed again.
Those people know full well how presumptive the phrase
"the field is now pretty well cleaned up" can be.

So Ruben, don't be so hard on yourself. Larry Atkin's
recent find may not even have been exposed on the
surface at the time you were searching.

But regarding the 21 fragments that were found just
last weekend by that dynamic father and son duo of
Erik and Ben Fisler, now there you can make a case
that these were "missed" by all of the hunters from
the previous weekend. But then again, we just had a
field report by Mexico Doug about all the rain he
recently encountered at Holbrook. Again, timing is
everything.

So, unless it can be proven that these have always
been exposed on the surface, it would still be very
presumptive to say that those 21 pieces, or even Larry
Atkin's find, were "missed" by ALL the previous
hunters of the Holbrook strewnfield.

Congratulations to all of the finders of the recently
found Holbrook meteorites. Your timing is impeccable.
:-)
Bob V.

----------------- Original Message -----------------
[meteorite-list] Some thoughts on Larry Atkin's Recent
Holbrook Find
JKGwilliam h3chondrite at cox.net
Mon Feb 12 17:03:22 EST 2007

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Larry Atkin's Recent Holbrook Find

Bernd, Larry, Maria and List,
Here's some more "food for thought" concerning the
Holbrook strewnfield.

One of my best friends, Dave Andrews, lives in
Holbrook and has hunted the strewnfield hundreds of
times. He was Larry and Maria when Larry made his find
of a lifetime. Dave and I talked on the phone while
the three of them
were still out in the field, and Dave told me it was
found in an area that many of us had been over dozens
of times.

How could that be?

Over the years, Dave has noted that wind and water
erosion probably come into play. After a good wind or
rain storm, artifacts ( indian pottery shards) and
meteorites become exposed. They seem to "appear" in
places where they weren't just days before. In
actuality, they were there all along but were hidden
below a thin layer of sand. Anyone who has ever hunted
there has noticed that there are small "hillocks" of
sand mounded up around the bases of some of the
indigenous shrubs. My guess is that once these shrubs
die and are blown away by the winds (which can last
for days and reach speeds of 50 MPH and more) the sand
moves on without the shrubs there to hold it in place.

Several years ago, Dave, John Blennert and I were
hunting in Holbrook. While walking along with Dave, he
bent over and picked up a small complete stone of
about 2 grams. It was perched atop a small column of
soil very much like a golf ball sitting on a tee. The
soil (mostly
sand) around it had blown away leaving the small stone
nearly half an inch above the surrounding soil.

Best,

John Gwilliam

----------------------
At 01:09 PM 2/12/2007, bernd.pauli at paulinet.de
wrote:


Hello Larry, Maria, and List,

First of all, of course, sincere congratulations!

"They came to the Southwest and did an amazing job,
finding meteorites at Holbrook, Franconia and Gold
Basin."

.. which should remind us all of Bob Haag's famous
words:

"The key is to get out there and look for them."
"Usually some pieces were missed in the initial
search."

But: "I had been within 50 feet of Larry's find many,
many times and driven by it many more."

.. which shows how difficult it can be, even for
experienced meteorite hunters like Ruben Garcia.

.. which should not discourage anyone willing to
search the "strewnfield" again and again, even though
Foote (no, not Gary ;-) remarked in his preliminary
note on the Holbrook shower in 1912:

"the field is now pretty well cleaned up."

Hmm! If he had known what he didn't know then, ... he
was wrong!
+++++++++++++++++++++

------------- End of Original Messages --------------
Received on Tue 13 Feb 2007 05:39:43 PM PST