[meteorite-list] Next Question

From: Jeff Kuyken <info_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:22:38 +1100
Message-ID: <50F475705FA149188412D4FCAA262912_at_JeffPC>

Hi Pete,

Good questions. You'll often find many small 'droplets' or small individuals
from some of the larger iron falls. I guess they're a little more prevalent
with recent falls because they are smaller and will oxidise away faster
relative to larger pieces. A few that come to mind are Sikhote and Taza. And
a great example of it is the Glorieta Mountain pallasite. There are lots of
little pieces that have presumably molten and 'flecked off' the larger mass
some of which even have some olivine attached or enclosed.

And yes... you can find regmaglypts on oriented "nose cones". They're
probably not as common as other individuals but they do occur. One thing to
note though is that they are often elongated parallel to the flight path. An
immediate example that comes to mind that displays this is the famous "Venus
Stone":

http://www.meteoriteman.com/graphics/venus.jpg

I also have a smaller 277g iron heat shield which has very shallow
depressions that I guess you would call regmaglypts. I would guess that the
larger the nose cone specimen the more chance you may have of getting
regmaglypts.

Cheers,

Jeff


----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Shugar" <pshugar at clearwire.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 3:50 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Next Question


>I get the idea behind how the thumbprints are formed.
>
> But, what happens to the drops of molten iron?
> Do they just peal away and are vaporized or can
> they make it to the ground? Is this how the sphereoids
> are formed?
>
> Related question
> An oriented meteorite is one that was stable in flight.
> I see flow lines on them from the "nose cone".
> Do thumbprints form on them? I would tend to think that
> that answer is no, because the material flows to the rear
> and either curls, or spaulds off.
> Does the same thing happen to the drops of material as
> in the above?
>
> Last question, but still related.
> Do stoney meteorites get thumbprints as pronounced as
> does the irons? And if not, then why not?
> Pete
>
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Received on Thu 15 Jan 2009 03:22:38 AM PST