[meteorite-list] Scientists find 400 meteorites in Oman

From: Jeff Kuyken <info_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 20:58:45 +1000
Message-ID: <00c901c7ee19$673247d0$4001a8c0_at_mandin4f89ypwu>

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007
/September/middleeast_September25.xml&section=middleeast&col=

Scientists find 400 meteorites in Oman
By our correspondent

3 September 2007

MUSCAT - Four hundred new meteorites have been found in Oman, scientists
have announced. The discoveries were made by a joint Oman-Swiss team that
was on a quest for meteorites in the Sultanate.

"The team has listed a total of 400 finds," the official Oman News Agency
(ONA) quoted Dr Ali bin Faraj Al Katheri, a geologist at the Minerals
Department of the Directorate-General of Commerce and Industry in Dhofar
Governorate, as saying.

The latest discoveries are the result of joint scientific co-operation
between the Commerce and Industry Ministry's Directorate-General of
Minerals, and the University of Berne of Switzerland.

Dr Al Katheri told ONA that the number of meteorites discovered around Oman
now totalled 4,970, weighing a total of around 3,830kg. "Prior to the year
2000, meteorite finds were rarely known in the Sultanate, until the Meteors
Society reported the discovery of 39 meteorites in its bulletin of August
2002," the agency said.

To date, meteorites discovered by other organisations total 1,805, weighing
a combined 6,228kg. They represent 34 per cent of global discoveries of
meteorites, with the exclusion of those found in the Antarctic. Meteorites
found in the Sultanate have significant civilisational and historical value,
Dr Katheri stressed, adding that Sultanate had emerged as one of the most
important regions for meteorite discoveries.
Received on Mon 03 Sep 2007 06:58:45 AM PDT