[meteorite-list] LOVINA REVISITED

From: Darryl Pitt <darryl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 18:19:54 -0500
Message-ID: <CBFD2597-F595-4660-B1E9-BA07B79716DC_at_dof3.com>

Hi,

For those who have followed the saga of Lovina:

Found in Bali, Indonesia, Lovina was classified as an ungrouped iron in early 2008; at the end of the same year I acquired the entire mass. Lovina's hallmark feature are ziggurat (pyramidal) structures which measure up to two centimeters. It seems these structures formed while Lovina was in solution in the tropical shallows from which it was recovered. I had been offering specimens for sale when the Smithsonian expressed interest in acquiring the main mass in late 2009?and I first stopped selling specimens when Tim McCoy doubted Lovina's meteoricity. Sales recommenced when new evidence from an esteemed colleague of Tim's resulted in the determination Lovina was indeed a meteorite. Months later sales were again discontinued?through this day?when additional news from multiple sources (Wasson, Nishiizuma) rolled in which contradicted the positive findings.

Lovina bears uncanny similarities to the composition of an iron meteorite. If this wasn't a meteorite, what was it? I had heard several theories, and I had gone to lengths to have the same verified. Some scientists felt it was slag?a notion dismissed by most. Others would only speak to me off-record, as they felt their hypothesis might be ridiculed by colleagues. One thing I've learned is that if there is doubt about the meteoricity of an object, it is not easy to find a meteoriticist to do more work on it.

Well, early last year I was so grateful to meet Qingzhu Yin of University California at Davis and Yangting Lin of the Key Laboratory of the Earth's Deep Interior in Beijing. Yangting's affiliation in particular was of great interest to me given a couple of the seemingly rogue hypotheses to which I previously alluded. A dinner in Beijing with Qingzhu and Yangting?at which Lovina dominated the conversation?resulted in Qingzhu's profound interest in Lovina; an interest which culminated in an LPSC abstract entitled "New Insights Into the Origin of Lovina, a Mystery Metal," which can be seen here: http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2014/pdf/1434.pdf

Verdict: while it was determined not to be a meteorite by Qingzhu and his co-authors, Lovina is nonetheless "an important find that is extraordinarily rare." The section of the mass with ziggurats has been preserved intact; it is certain a museum is in its future.


All best / Darryl
Received on Fri 14 Feb 2014 06:19:54 PM PST