[meteorite-list] Submerged Meteorites - Methods of Retrieval

From: Meteorites USA <eric_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:18:55 -0800
Message-ID: <4B7A008F.8030708_at_meteoritesusa.com>

Hey Mike,

It's not entirely crazy to think one could retrieve meteorites from the
bottomw of the ocean. However, a marine expedition would most probably
be cost prohibitive. The high costs of a boat, fuel, and crew, not to
mention a specialized trawling mechanism/device that would allow you to
locate meteorites via magnetism or perhaps an underwater metal detecting
device would be so expensive it may outweigh the value of anything found
if you were lucky enough to find anything at all. It's expensive enough
to find meteorites on the surface of the Earth, imagine trying to find
meteorites "sight unseen" in hundreds of feet of water. this is like
flying over a desert 200 feet above the desert pavement in a hot air
balloon and dragging magnets along behind you.

Now, having said how it's not likely feasible or worth it monetarily, it
is possible. I remember reading about a trawler that found a rather
large chondrite meteorite in their net. The cool thing was that it was
in great shape. Deterioration of meteorites in salt water may happen
slower than most people think.

 From what I've read about Antarctica meteorites have been falling into
the ocean as the glaciers/ice shelf melt. I also read that glaciers that
meet the ocean acts as a conveyor and drops meteorites in the ocean as
pieces of ice fall off and melt. You can imagine a large chunk of ice
floating away in the ocean holding within it large pieces of meteorite
that fell thousands or millions of years ago. These icebergs would float
with the currents until the iceberg enters warmer water and melts it
would then release the meteorites to the bottom of the ocean.

If I were to trawl the ocean bottom, I'd get a map (chart in marine
terms) of the area just north and east and west) of Antarctica. I'd then
map the currents to find where icebergs would go to warmer water, then
I'd trawl that area. Unfortunately that water may be SUPER deep and it
would probably not be possible to get a length of cable long enough to
trawl something that deep.

Again, costs are probably prohibitive, but I'm optimistic that somehow
it is possible.

Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA



On 2/15/2010 4:52 PM, Galactic Stone & Ironworks wrote:
> Hi Listees,
>
> I was wondering about all of the meteorites that fall into the oceans
> and large bodies of water. Presumably, these meteorites are forever
> lost because they will oxidize away completely, or they will be
> entombed in sediments. But, would it be possible for a trawler to
> drag a big magnet across the ocean bottom (or other body of water) to
> retrieve some of these meteorites before they are too far gone to
> oxidation? I know this notion seems silly at first, but would there
> be underwater areas that would be more forgiving for this kind of
> operation? I can imagine some gigantic iron sitting on the bottom,
> with a thick rind of oxidation around it, and it would stick to a huge
> magnet for retrieval.
>
> Is this idea silly, or is it something that could be attempted? I
> imagine it would be fruitless to just pick an area at random and start
> trolling for meteorites, but if there was a suspected fall or other
> reason to think that a particular area might be rich in meteorites,
> would it be possible to get at them?
>
> Best regards and happy huntings,
>
> MikeG
>
>
>
Received on Mon 15 Feb 2010 09:18:55 PM PST