[meteorite-list] 4 lake bed hunt, New Lake Bed finds

From: John Lutzon <jl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 9 May 2011 20:53:10 -0400
Message-ID: <8A48AB32634A44C089B4BE3158EDBC9A_at_Home>

Terri, Scott & Sundance

Thank you for the outline of your trek. Sounds like everyone had a great
trip, even the sledgehammer had a good time.

In a past life, i've had some aerobatic experiences in a composite German
Grob, supposedly rated _at_ 13g's. The most i ever saw was 6-7 and then saw
"grey". Don't go there!

With the very serious issue at hand, it was quite refreshing to hear of your
new finds and the story behind them!!
I envy your ability to take such trips and enjoy the fever of "just one more
hunt".
(are the wife and vehicles for rent-and, most important, can Larry cook?)
Sorry Larry.

I hope others chime in on your story and new finds.
The best to Sundance.

John Lutzon



----- Original Message -----
From: "U.S. Airborne" <ontheroad at usairborne.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 1:00 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] 4 lake bed hunt, New Lake Bed finds


> Hi All, Just a quick update from out in the field. My Wife Terri & I had
> to do a biz trip to Ca to teach flying. So I made arrangements to add a
> few weeks of meteorite hunting in on the trip. We started out with
> blizzard conditions at lake bed #1. Two nights the temp dipped to 15 then
> 17 degrees. It was snowing, then raining, then hailing on us for a few
> days, when out on the hunt. Lake bed 1 was a old strune field that we
> worked over for 3 days. We recovered about 3 lbs that totaled over 600
> meteorite frags. Weather was warming a bit so we moved to lake bed # 2. It
> was real difficult getting on this lake bed as the snow melt was draining
> into it and it was nearly full of water. We still hunted the dry edge for
> a day but no luck. There was lots of evidence of native Americans living
> in the area . We hit the road for lake bed #3. We had made arrangements
> for one of our meteorite hunting friends to come join us at lake bed #3.
> once we arrived at the location #3 we found it difficult to find the
> correct road onto the lake bed. During our hunt for the road out in
> remote NV. I had a blow out on my Kawasaki teryx trailer. I had my lance
> camper on the truck , so I could not see or feel that my trailer wheel had
> blown, so by the time I stopped my tire & rim were destroyed. I had thrown
> in a spare off my aircraft trailer before leaving the airpark. When I
> tried to change the tire I find that my spare rim is about 1/8th inch
> larger. So we camp for the night on this remote road. The next day I
> unhooked the trailer leaving Terri & Sundance to to watch things. I gave
> Terri my 9 mm to protect herself in case any yahoos gave her trouble. My
> drive to the nearest town was a wake up call. There were no tire stores
> left in this town. The last one went out of biz 3 days before I arrived
> into town. I did find a guy to help me put the rubber off my rim that did
> not fit onto the smashed up rim. I had a sledge hammer so I smashed the
> rim into better shape. Once I we got the tire on, it was still leaking
> air. I beat the edge of the rim with my sledge until it stopped leaking
> air. To make a long story short I had to drive about 150 miles on this bad
> rim & tire to the nearest big town where I got 8 ply rubber on all tires &
> two new rims. By that afternoon we were back at Lakebed #3 for the hunt.
> Larry arrived also, so the next day we hunted all day long with no finds
> and nearly got stuck in our 4x4 buggy on the wet lake bed. Then on day two
> Larry & found the strings of gravel that we were hunting for the day
> before. Within a minute or two Larry found 1 nice one then 5 min later I
> found a nice complete meteorite with flow lines about 20 ft from Larry's
> find. It was barely magnetic so we looked it over real good & figured it
> was likely a LL or possibly even more rare. It was past lunch so we headed
> back to base camp for lunch & tell Terri of our finds & bring her back
> after lunch for the hunt. Once we got back from lunch & back hunting,
> within about 10 min I was showing Terri the string of rocks that we were
> going to hunt real good. Just as I said she needs to find a nice big one,
> I look down & there was a nice 60 gram specimen right in front of me. As I
> was documenting my find. Terri located a real nice meteorite of her own,
> it was a very nice looking meteorite with broken fusion crust & nice
> olivine. Then just after Terri did here pics & GPS location about 100
> yards off Larry makes a real nice find. It was a real fresh looking rock.
> It was amazing as it totally looked new. So we were on a nice finding run
> as we hunted the long string of rocks that had been collecting in this
> area for ages. In the end on this new lake bed Terri recovered 1 nice
> meteorite, Larry had 3 and I had 3. So 7 new finds at this new location
> was quite nice. After looking at our finds, it looks like 4 to possibly 5
> different meteorite falls. Once they get classified then we will know for
> sure if our guesses are correct on types. Larry had to head the to east &
> we headed west towards Ca. I was like a Alcoholic needing a other drink .
> Or like a gambler that wants that one last bet. As a meteorite hunting
> junky I needed just 1 more hunt. Just give me one more & I will be O.K. to
> leave the lovely deserts I love so much. I knew of other lake beds I could
> hunt on our way west but time was getting short. Terri was turning into a
> meteorite hunting junkie also after her big 7 lb find this last Feb in AZ.
> and then her 300 finds at the first strune field, then her last find a few
> days back really set the hook on her meteorite hunting life style. So with
> both of us now hooked on space rock hunting, we decided we had better stop
> in & hunt one more lake bed for a day. I had been to this lake bed before
> & found 6 small ones & 1 bigger one. But once we arrived we found the
> lakebed had resurfaced and nothing was like it was before. The location I
> had found meteorite before was now bare of all rocks all together. Just in
> 1 winter this area totally changed. I followed some ice rafted rocks and
> some other debris like old rubber tires that all got blown across the lake
> bed in super strong NE winds & likely frozen lake bed. So we followed the
> signs & hunted the western shore line where it all was blown into. Within
> 15 min of hunting that shore I located a nice 30 gram meteorite that feels
> like a H to me. Terri hunted her butt off but nothing else reviled itself
> to us all morning. By noon the lakebed was a blow down & we had to leave.
> It was a total white out of dust & very difficult to drive or find our way
> off this now dusty mess. I found my tire tracks & followed them off in the
> white out. Terri was driving the Kawasaki side by side off & she surely
> ate lots of dust on her way off the lake bed. The blow down happened very
> quickly & lasted for the afternoon. We are now in Ca. teaching flying & I
> got to say I wish I was back hunting for flying rocks. On a great note, my
> wife Terri is hooked big big time now on meteorite hunting. And I got to
> say she is quite the hunter gal. Also, Larry is quite the fun & knowing
> meteorite hunter & great to hunt with. Now back to important issues in
> trying to figure out where to hunt on our way back home to WA State. Happy
> hunting to all!
> When I get time I will post a link for photos.
> Scott , Terri & Sundance Johnson
> U.S. AirBorne Sport Aviation LLC
> Eagles Nest Airpark
> Sport Pilot C.F.I WSC-L WSC-S
> www.usairborne.com
> info at usairborne.com
> Office 509-780-0554
> Cell 509-780-8377
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Larry Atkins" <thetoprok at aol.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:28 AM
> To: <jimwooddell at gmail.com>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Real or not real.
>
>>
>> Greg, Jim, List,
>>
>> I found something while following up on a meteorite lead, a story of a
>> witnessed fall by a farmer who picked up a 25 lb. rock that supposedly
>> fell
>> right in front of him. Many years later the great grandson wanted to get
>> the 'meteorite' but it was nowhere to be found.
>> He enlisted me to search the property where the farm once stood and I
>> found this enigma in about an hour. When the great grandson saw the rock
>> still setting on the ground where I found it he got really excited about,
>> saying that he recognized it, I had found the 'meteorite'.
>>
>> I almost hate to dredge this story up but it is relevant to the thread.
>>
>> I found the rock in 2001. Within 3 weeks of its discovery and after
>> passing through
>> the hands of several esteemed meteorite experts It was sent to the
>> U.S.Dept. of Energy for
>> Al 26 counting. It was deemed by the
>> U.S. D.O.E. not a meteorite due to a lack of Al 26. When I asked what it
>> was they said they did not know, they were so certain it was a
>> meteorite that they tested it for 100 times less Al 26 than
>> they expected to find in a
>> normal meteorite but still found none. I was told that it is a rock
>> unlike any they had ever seen, perhaps from Disko Island (due to its Ni
>> content) but not like anything they had seen from Disko Island. Since
>> then, samples of it have been archived at three different Univerities
>> for 'future study' should anything arise (or fall) to justify it. My
>> own amateur research indicates to me that it may possibly be some sort of
>> impact
>> debris, possibly related to the KT impact. Two main reasons for this
>> potential conclusion are the fact that Argon dating puts it at the
>> right age, 75 ma. + / - 10 million, and the fact that there are some
>> unusual crystals, tiny Cr spinels with a peculiar feature that are only
>> found in one other place on Earth, the KT boundary layer. Those
>> crystals, (in the KT) are pseudomorphs after spinel and the dirt
>> immediately adjacent to the xtals is enriched in Cr. suggesting a
>> possible relation. These crystals in the KT layer are thought to have
>> condensed and
>> precipitated from the plume that shrouded the planet. There is another
>> camp that thinks the xtals may be from the impactor.
>>
>> To address Jim Wooddells concerns, let me say that I was told flat out
>> that the reason they couldn't or wouldn't take this to the final
>> conclussion was simple, it could jeopardize future funding and
>> professional reputation. It seems that if a scientist spends a bunch of
>> money and wastes a lot of time on an object that turns out to be
>> nothing, monies and reputation are at stake. I can understand this I
>> guess, but it seems like a sure way to ensure that the really odd stuff
>> will not be recognized unless it's an irrefutable witnessed fall.
>>
>> Of course it could all be a big coincidence, just a man made rock that
>> fooled the Argon dating process. Some have scoffed at it saying it is
>> nothing unusual, but the majority of experts say that it is a very
>> unusual rock.
>> This is evident when looking at a sawn surface, you ca see that it's made
>> of minerals with texture, it looks nearly
>> identicle to D'Orbigny. In fact, several experts thought it was
>> an angrite at first look. When I saw D'Orbigny the first time in ET's
>> room I almost fell over. Tiny crystals in the vugs sparkling in the
>> light like little diamonds, just like mine. On closer examination I saw
>> that the crystals were not the same.
>>
>> To this day I do not know it's true origin, any meteoriticists or
>> impact experts out there with deep pockets and nothing to lose care to
>> take a stab at it?
>>
>> I posted some pictures to photobucket.
>>
>> http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad190/alienrockfarm/2001%20Find/
>>
>> Ths is an extremely condensed version of the story, it's truly one of the
>> most fascinating meteorwrong stories of all time.
>>
>> Happy Hunting!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Larry Atkins
>>
>> IMCA # 1941
>> Ebay alienrockfarm
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Larry Atkins
>> IMCA # 1941
>> Ebay alienrockfarm
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jim Wooddell <jimwooddell at gmail.com>
>> To: Meteorite List <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Wed, Apr 27, 2011 9:47 am
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Real or not real.
>>
>>
>> Hello Jeff,
>>
>> The problem with that analogy is that visual inspection is only a very
>> small part of the testing of a rock. While your post appears to
>> suggest the scientist could not tell, it does not indicate that any
>> testing was completed on it. What testing was done on it???
>> I could be totally wrong but sure hope that with the bazillions of tax
>> dollars spent on funding research, in this day and age, I would
>> suggest that there better not be a rock out there the scientist can
>> not identify.
>> I really get the impression that maybe the scientists where being
>> polite and not attempting to burst your bubble?
>> Respectfully, what scientist in their right mind would turn down a
>> valid cold find or a new fall specimen? Does this actually happen???
>> Any scientists out there???
>>
>> Check out my number 4 of 4 finds on yesterday's hunt at Franconia :
>> http://desrtsunburn.no-ip.org/DSCN0142.jpg (~5mb macro)
>>
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Jim Wooddell
>> http://desertsunburn.no-ip.org
>> ---
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 1:46 AM, Jeff Kuyken <info at meteorites.com.au>
>> wrote:
>>> I have a stone from years ago that appears oriented but weathered. It
>> was
>>> originally thought to be a planetary but that did not seem to pan out
>>> clearly. The problem was that the very qualified scientist could not
>> say for
>>> sure what it was and could also not rule out other options like an
>> Earth
>>> meteorite either. Further tests were just too expensive and the budget
>>> didn't allow for it.
>>>
>>> The thing is that the stone was even taken along to one of the Annual
>> Met
>>> Society meetings and passed around to various people along with a
>> couple of
>>> well known planetary scientists from NASA looking at it. A couple
>> suggested
>>> it is likely some sort of basalt but not one person could come up
>> with any
>>> idea of where or how it formed. Basically they said to just wait and
>> see if
>>> any other similar NWA's showed up over the years. I'm still waiting!
>> ;-)
>>>
>>> So yes... there are definitely stones out there that stump even the
>> best.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Jeff
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "GREG LINDH" <geeg48 at msn.com>
>>> To: "meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 4:47 AM
>>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Real or not real.
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> To all,
>>>>
>>>> Are there any stones that have been found that are unable to be
>>>> definitively identified as a meteorite? In other words, are there
>> stones
>>>> (metal or stony) that the meteorite experts of the world examine
>> closely,
>>>> and then just say, "We just don't know"?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Greg L.
>>>> ______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>
>
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Received on Mon 09 May 2011 08:53:10 PM PDT