[meteorite-list] Scientists find 400 meteorites in Oman

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2007 13:30:52 +0200
Message-ID: <008901c7ee1d$e3b5c030$177f2a59_at_name86d88d87e2>

Thanks for the post Jeff!

It gives quite good hints about the overall-volume of desert finds, also for
NWA-country, that there most probably weren't found ominous dark figures of
hundreds and thousands of tons of meteorites.

Oman has the advantage, that also those stones collected by private
individuals in most cases are numbered (and classified).
I don't know, I guess in 1999 the first hunts started in Oman?

So in 8 years 6.2 tons were found (and mainly ordinary chondrites).
Even if one amply would add some tons not recorded material,
the total amount wouldn't fill that little truck:
http://kuerzer.de/Metload

..and if you think to Campo, Sikhote, Gibeon....

So, it's rare stuff, those meteorites...

Additionally it's helpful for that small fraction of scientists, who
frequently lament in public, that they couldn't compete with the private
meteorite sector. The Suisse universities demonstrate, that a successful and
fruitful field work in the hot deserts is possible.

Best!
Martin



-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Jeff
Kuyken
Gesendet: Montag, 3. September 2007 12:59
An: Meteorite List
Betreff: [meteorite-list] Scientists find 400 meteorites in Oman

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.

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Received on Mon 03 Sep 2007 07:30:52 AM PDT