[meteorite-list] earth rocks that contain nickel

From: Greg Stanley <stanleygregr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:24:49 -0800
Message-ID: <SNT117-W1699DDEFBAA8D05B88D04ED2A50_at_phx.gbl>

Mike:

Try this:

http://www.galleries.com/scripts/search.exe?nickel

I use this site for identifying my odd mineral specimens.? Has a lot of good information and pictures.

Hope it turns out to be something interesting.?

Where did you find it?

Greg S.

----------------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:11:54 -0500
> From: mike.hankey at gmail.com
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: [meteorite-list] earth rocks that contain nickel
>
> Dear List,
>
> With all the recent attention put on newbies I thought now would be
> the perfect time to ask something stupid.
>
> My Question: What Earth rocks naturally contain nickel?
>
> The reason I ask is I have found some rocks that test positive for
> nickel. I have used the Nickel allergy test, the cotton swab turned
> pink and stayed pink for more than 5 minutes.
>
> When researching this nearly every source I have found says nickel
> inside of earth rocks is very rare and a good sign for positive
> meteorite identification.
>
> The rock in question:
> - has a black crust (not as nice as I would expect),
> - it has a bulk density of 3.6,
> - it has shiny, small metal flakes on inside
> - it is magnetic,
> - it does not leave a streak
> - it tests positive for nickel
> - it is not slag (no vesicles, stony gray interior)
>
> I do not think this is a meteorite because the interior looks like
> ingenious rock and I have not been able to find meteorite pictures
> that look similar.
>
> So what I'm really trying to do is get a list of earth rocks together
> that do contain nickel so that I can ID it off of one of them (and
> ignore it in the future if I come across it again). I have read this
> page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel and the samples on that
> page, limonite, garnierite, pentlandite don't seem to match up with
> what I have here.
>
> Here is a picture of the rock in question:
>
> http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/rocks/nickel-rock.jpg
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>
>>From University of Washington 'Gallery of meteor wrongs...'
>
> With a few rare and well known exceptions, naturally occurring
> terrestrial rock do not contain iron metal or iron-nickel metal. There
> are two reasons. First, early in Earth's history the iron-nickel metal
> sank to form the Earth's core. Second, any metal that did not sink has
> oxidized (rusted) over Earth's long history. The Earth's environment
> is far more oxidizing (oxygen atmosphere and water) than space, where
> meteorites originate. Earth rocks do contain iron and nickel, but only
> in oxidized (non-metallic) form. Therefore, if you find a rock that
> contains iron-nickel metal, it's probably a meteorite. That sounds
> simple, but there are two problems.
>
> First, many people find slags and other by-products of metal
> manufacturing. Some of the samples that have been brought to us may
> have been from forges or blacksmith shops that are more than 100 years
> old (see meteorwrongs 026, 027, 061, 065, 070, 075, 093, and 122).
> Others appear to fall from the sky for unknown reasons (see Getafe).
> Metal in slags and industrial by-products is mostly iron. Such
> materials will probably contain little nickel (much less than 1%). So,
> if you can determine that the sample has little or no nickel, then the
> sample is not a meteorite.
>
> The second problem is that some minerals in terrestrial rocks look
> like metal but are not. All that glitters is not metal. Many rocks
> contain small grains of sulfide minerals like pyrite ("fool's gold")
> or micas that are finely disseminated and shiny. I've had many people
> tell me, "But, it contains metal!" when there really isn't any. Clue:
> If there are shiny bits in it but it's not magnetic, it's not a
> meteorite (Meteorite Realities).
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Received on Mon 16 Nov 2009 05:24:49 PM PST