[meteorite-list] The latest Carancas estimate from Peruvian geniuses

From: mexicodoug <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 19:35:53 -0600
Message-ID: <00e201c82015$5f745280$4001a8c0_at_MICASA>

"The say that nothing is left in the crater, and they are going to spend
$10,000 to protect the crater. Interesting, since the water table will only
rise with the rains, and melt the mud."

Interesting indeed. Let me be optimistic. I would believe the Peruvian
cross-functional team of geologists, engineers and foreign scientists, which
will begin this work on November 8 has a good chance of success if the
collaboration works out. The article mentions that the money is being spent
to change the course of the underground riverbed which the crater sits in,
and I think this would be a proven technique where competent water
management is a national priority and very important in mining, and Peru has
quite a history. Then they would simply stabilize the structure from rain
and run-off somehow by covering it with a big enough roof. The belief
apparently is that the crater then would dry out and could be saved as a
future renewable resource (tourism). Nearly 10,000 square km in The Florida
Everglades was drained by the Army Corps of Engineers, so stupider things
have definitely suceeded before. This sounds like a good idea that could
work. More than anything success will depend on the gradient followed by
the water. A shallow gradient will be much harder to save and just leave an
amorphous hoole as time develops. That may even suit the needs of the
typical tourist who puts another interesting site to vist on the itinerary,
and adds $10 US every time to several people who can use it.

That basketball comment is really, really odd. Though, that may give the
scientific team some peace to work unencumbered by
would-be-fortune-huntersby now, probably half of the population of the
country, bent on raising one ton of material believed to be worth US One
Hundred Million Dollars at current "retail" pricing.

The articles also mention that 60% of the meteorite was recovered. The odd
basketball comment does correlates quite well with the initial reports of
how much material was recovered, since 60% of a basketball of stony
meteorite is about 30 kilograms. Typically, though (read about Bob Haag in
Rocks From Space) these numbers are underinflated, so we can only hope there
is really more. I am betting (Purely personal conjecture) that the odd
basketball reference is the unofficial mutilate reference to how much
material really was believed recovered = 50 Kg, including what the Peruvian
scientists know. It will be very interesting to see what is finally
published as a TKW in the Meteoritical Bulletin, though it is painfully
obvious that this was not the justification used by the press. Another
important question is the inventory of the Peruvian geologists and the
Bolivian Planetarium recovered and its current whereabouts, as this material
quite well may have been removed before the 30 Kg estimate attributed to the
commercial meteorite collectors.

Finally, another comment in the article mentions that the government
organizations are setting up a meteorite investigation/recovery program, to
acquire other meteorites, one would assume in the name of the nation. It
will be interesting to see the ramifications of the program in relation to
the private hunting for meteorites. There is a special emphasis which reads
in a very negative tone regarding Mike's "admitting" to have taken 300 grams
of material out of Peru. The other 30 - 50 kilograms (or 10 kg depending on
who you believe) is basically non-existent when this negative tone is used.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Farmer" <meteoriteguy at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 4:09 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] The latest Carancas estimate from Peruvian
geniuses


>I am sitting in Germany, and just read this on the
> Peruvian news.
> I don't have time to translate the article, but it
> shows how poorly informed the scientists in Peru are.
> Perhaps they could consult a meteorite expert for a
> little advice.
>
> http://www.andina.com.pe/NoticiaDetalle.aspx?id=148288
>
>
> It says that the top scientist in Peru declared that
> the Carancas meteorite was the size of a basketball,
> and that almost all meteorites make craters 30 times
> the size of the meteorite.
>
> Boy, if that were only even close to being true,
> imagine all of the meteorite craters that would be all
> over the earth. Basketball sized meteorites fall
> often, none of them ever leave a crater. Why cant they
> get that through their skulls? Why is it that every
> time a meteorite falls, a basketball analogy always
> comes up somewhere?
>
> The say that nothing is left in the crater, and they
> are going to spend $10,000 to protect the crater.
> Interesting, since the water table will only rise with
> the rains, and melt the mud.
>
> Michael Farmer
>
>
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Received on Mon 05 Nov 2007 08:35:53 PM PST