[meteorite-list] "Ocate" - A True & Unpaired NEW Iron Meteorite

From: Greg Hupe <gmhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:32:25 -0400
Message-ID: <B583AED7F9D64273926BF8FCF2104AA5_at_Gregor>

Dear IMCA & Meteorite List Members,

It was brought to my attention last week that an IMCA Member filed a formal
complaint against me to the IMCA Board of Directors (I was asked not to
mention his name in public as this was a confidential complaint). He claimed
that I was selling a transported Canyon Diablo as a new iron meteorite,
"Ocate", from New Mexico. I first announced "Ocate" in June of this year. I
had to 'defend' myself in a statement to the IMCA Board and they conducted a
formal inquiry using a third party scientist to compare the two iron
meteorites. They found that the claim was groundless, false and in my
opinion, an attempt to interfere with my reputation and sales for whatever
senseless reason he had. Obviously, I would not risk my reputation on trying
to pass off a meteorite for something other than what it actually was!

Here is the data and statement from the third party scientist the IMCA Board
received proving "Ocate" is NOT a transported Canyon Diablo as claimed. This
is also the results sent to the complaining member:

START>>
This is a compositional comparison of the Ocate iron with Canyon Diablo:

Canyon Diablo bandwidth 2.0mm Ocate 1.4mm

Ni = 7.17 wt% Ni = 6.99 wt%
Co 0.468 Co 0.466
Ga 81.8 ppm Ga 71.9 ppm
Ge 322 Ge 271
Ir 2.17 Ir 2.25
Au 1.57 Au 1.60
As 12.7 As 15.2
Cu 148 Cu 119
W 0.99 W 0.87
Re 0.22 Re 0.22
(Figures for Canyon Diablo without Ni from Wasson & Ouyang 1990, for Ocate
from Herd & Bruemmer)

An independent experienced meteoriticist compared the data, not being told
which meteorites were involved. He said that they couldn't be paired due to
the significantly different amounts of some siderophile elements such as
Gallium and Germanium that are indicative in such cases. The other
similarities are just due to the fact that both irons are members
of the IAB iron main group, but there's no chance that they might be paired.

Short: Ocate is no misplaced or misrepresented Canyon Diablo, so much is for
sure. I'm actually not too surprised about this outcome as I'm sure that the
NomCom of the Meteoritical Society would also have considered a possible
pairing prior to approving Ocate as a new find. As I told you, it's already
published and official:
http://tin.er.usgs.gov/meteor/metbull.php?code=48976
<<END

I hope this puts an end to any question of the authenticity of "Ocate". It
is always those people who are guilty of something who claim other's are
guilty of something similar. This particular person who filed this complaint
against me has caused problems for other people and has made claims that are
untrue regarding the authenticity of his own material, how he got it, where
he "found" it, etc. Basically, this person is full of non"sense" and is
pleading for attention!

I believe this particular person should be removed as an IMCA member and as
a member of this List! He has proven many times he does not care about
meteorites in general and only wants to create havoc!

Best regards,
Greg

====================
Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
NaturesVault (eBay)
gmhupe at htn.net
www.LunarRock.com
IMCA 3163
====================
Click here for my current eBay auctions:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnaturesvault
Received on Mon 31 Aug 2009 07:32:25 PM PDT