[meteorite-list] Question Martian in 3-D: Block Island Meteorite on Mars

From: bernd.pauli at paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: 10 Aug 2009 18:18:18 UT
Message-ID: <DIIE.0000006800003F22_at_paulinet.de>

Randy writes:

"Most of the 'holes' don't look so much like regmaglypts
 to me. Maybe some are chemical weathering features ...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/images/mer20090806.html

Hello Randy and List,

I certainly agree! These 'holes' look like the ones we know
from the Willamette iron, ...those "bowl-shaped cavities" *

* BUCHWALD V.F. (1975) Handbook of Iron Meteorites, Volume 3, pp. 1318, excerpts:

"It can, therefore, be assumed that, when Willamette landed in the distant past, it had a shape
and sculpture very similar to that of Morito. It must have been deeply furrowed on the cone side
with radiating flutings, while the antiapex was a flat, somewhat crowning surface with shallow
- but large - depressions. The meteorite must have been significantly more massive then, possibly
weighing more than 20 tons.

This leaves us with a mass which by some mysterious process has lost more than six tons
since it fell. For this to occur it appears that we have to resort to terrestrial weathering
processes, as already suggested by Ward (1904c) ... It appears, however, that given
sufficient time and the right conditions of dilute, aerated sulfuric acid from decomposing
troilite, the cavities may reach the surprising scale observed on Willamette."


Best wishes,

Bernd
Received on Mon 10 Aug 2009 02:18:18 PM PDT