Meteorites

G'day All, Has anybody found a meteorite?

I saw years ago of a guy in America who chased meteorites all over the world, his collection was impressive and extensive, with some of them being priceless. Also on Chris Gholson's video I think it was he touched on the subject.
How would a person find out the location of a hit?
Surely you just can't wander the globe and hope that you find one. Makes me wonder how many people have dug them and assumed it was a hot rock not knowing the signs of how to tell what it was they just threw away.
Cheers.

I am keeping one such "hot rock" just in case it is a meteorite. I guess i ll never know
ITs a small, water-worn pebble about 10 grams in weight, and it looks like really baked ironstone on the outside, but is sooo heavy for the size its nearly entirely iron.

From what i read, there are two ways to tell if it is or it is not a space-rock:
Cut it, and observe the patern of iron inside (there are pics available online), as it looks very different from man-made iron.
The other option is to take it to a museum. In Melbourne Museum there is a guy who will ID it for you.
Problem is, it will also be assigned a number and added to "registry of meteorites". And you will not be able to sell it or move it out of the country.

Cheers!

A meteorite will generally be smooth on one side, from where it has been heated entering the atmosphere.

That's funny, I was looking at a bunch of samples in the State Museum the other day and thinking the very same thing. Incredible looking things when cut in half, considering their origin. Most just looked like cut and faced iron on the inside, but there are different types.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorites

Hi, I have a piece of one, some mates found it about a metre under ground at wilcania, whilst clearing some land or duilding a dam, when they found it, being typical aussie,s first thing was too try and break it, which couldnt be done by dropping the blade on the d9 on it so they ran it through the drive gear cog on the tracks,,. Its really heavy for its size, wont attract magnets, and has the wilpedia (i thhink thats whats it called) pattern,. I saw a gold meteorite advertised on ebay a few month ago, which surprised me, as i didnt think there was such a thing, the piece i have is about as big as a tennis ball and i was told its worth about 5 grand..
cheeers spider

Here is a site on identifying the meterorites,
note the interlocking streaks of iron/nickel alloys.
http://geology.com/meteorites/meteorite-types-and-classification.shtml

The interlocking streaks are the crystalline metal which supposedly can form only as the metal cools at around one degree per million years. However, those streaks can only become visible if the polished slab of meteorite is first etched with an acid. Otherwise it looks just like any other polished metal.

I collect meteorites and can recommend a few overseas dealers and ebay sellers if anyone else is interested. I found one yesterday sitting on the road at Peel... it was black against the cream colored sand and very easy to spot from my vehicle. There's a good (LARGE) meteorite approximately every square 1.6km but some are worth $1 per gram and yet others (usually those with olivine crystals inside an iron matrix) can be very valuable. Such specimens are called Pallasite meteorites. Whilst most of those for sale of eBay are reasonably affordable, there are a few "accidental" fakes out there collected by people who can't tell the difference between natural ironstone that has begun to oxidize and a real nickel-iron meteorite. Some are stone and contain little metal.



Martian Metorite images reproduced with permission from NASA...except the planet Mars - which I rendered in 3D at home.

Whites recently released a detector with a meteorite setting on it to assist in locating iron based meteorites. Some have telltale features like a "fusion crust" (where part of the surface has liquefied when entering the earth's atmosphere at high speed) and others have small dents in the surface which look like someone dented the rock with their thumbs... and are creatively called "thumbprints". A nice display piece will cost around $3,000 but smaller chunks of around an ounce can be purchased for under $100 by collectors. Australia has just released a large silver coin for $115 which contains fragments of meteorites inside a little window in the middle of the coin. You can find it in the 2009 Space Collection at some Post Offices.

Note that in Western Australia, you cannot touch a meteorite without an interstate export Permit as the Government there "owns all the meteorites".

Collectors often hire ultralights to fly across the salt lakes and look for meteorites which have landed on the salt. Serious collectors have built a metal detecting coil to tow behind a motorbike and they often are successful in finding large buried meteorites. Last big one I saw of the Pallasite nature sold for $16,000,000.00 in the USA about 2 years ago. You can buy slabs of it from collectors which have been polished and they make good jewelery.

But when on the Goldfields, be aware that most gold deposits have come from volcanic origins and this means that lava and basalt stones can sometimes be found nearby. Such stones are sometimes confused with meteorites. The easiest way to tell is to look and see if the thumbprints" resemble dents or bubbles. Since bubbles don't form in meteorites, such specimens are usually terrestrial or volcanic in origin.


This is a lava specimen from Bathurst.



This is a meteorite from Siberia




Example of two different meteorites that I photographed earlier this year. They are both iron but the round one closely resembles a Tektite (molten glass-like debris thrown up by a meteorite)

Since stony meteorites need examination (usually under magnification) to identify, the easiest ones to identify are the iron/nickel types. These can sometimes end up stuck to your prospecting pick magnet. Collecting meteorites is a great hobby. But be warned that to sell one, you'll have to have it certified. Any institute doing a certification will usually need to claim 1/3 of the specimen. So you'll receive a pice 2/3 the weight of the one you sent in for testing. Part of the specimen taken by the institute will be destroyed (as a part of the testing process) and the remaining piece if the portion shaved off will be retained to form part of a worldwide collection of samples from around the planet.

Thanks for the replies guys, Interesting stuff, great post marco, I never did realise that they were that commonly found. Puts a new perspective on things.
Cheers

hi all
here is a iron one i found 20 odd years ago,
pics are showing each side of it,
back then i had it valued at $15,000
dont know how much its worth these days?

One night I saw a streak through the sky heading roughly north to south and appearing to go to or beyond the horizon from where an instant later I saw a flash not unlike distant lightning. This occured three times about 30 seconds apart landind about 10 degrees apart. Would love to hear an explanation for this.

Any one who is into detecting, should educate themselves on what meteorites look like. There is a good chance that you will one day find a normal looking rock that gives off a signal and you may discard it as a hot rock but it will be a chondrite meteorite.

I have about 40 different Australian meteorites, most are not the iron types. 90% of meteorites that hit earth look like rocks and are a little weathered and rotted from laying in the ground for long periods. Fresh falls may have a black coating.

The only real way to learn is to hit the web hard (there are some good australian meteorites sites), look at images of Australian meteorites and tektites on offer on ebay and visit museum collections to get an idea of whats out there and what it will look like in the field. There are plenty of sites explaining how iron, stoney and the myriad of different meteorite types look like and tips for Identifying them. There are a couple good Australian meteorite books available that will readilly appear with a google search

There are many iron oxide blocks/masses in Australia that look like they have flowlines and may be meteorites but they are not. You may need to send off a piece for ID after doing some basic ID work yourself.

Sad thing is many people (some from overseas)are illegally visiting the key meteorite strewn fields in Australia and using detectors to detect irons or their eyes looking for the fresh black crusted ones to collect hundreds of them over many weeks. They then take them overseas or flog them on ebay.

So i thoroughly recommend members do a bit of study on meteorites, tektites, impactites, impact features and shatter cones and add another string to your detecting bow (while observing state laws and national Heritage laws)

Tributer

I saw a video on Utube which showed some US. meteorite hunters doing their thing. They said they just drive into the nevada desert and stop at isolated places that have exposed gravel. They said if anything ever landed there then it would still be there and not covered over by moving sands or human interference.

A number of years ago I picked up a odd looking rock by a mates fathers shed, it had these 20mm deep cracks in it the could only be caused by extream heat and the surface also has spots of rust on it.

I took the rock home to show the old man who was a rock hound and his opinion was it was a lump of iron ore that had been heated. he later took it to the Adelaide Museum where it was confirmed to be a Metiorite and also confiscated due to the fact that all Metiorites are protected by the south Australian Hertage act.

As a token of their appereciation for us donating the metiorite my mates father and I both got $250 reward each, a Adelade Metiorite finders Medalion plus a Replica of the original.

The rock is now on display in athe Adelade Museum Meteorite display for all to see unfortunatly they do not recognise the finders of these rocks.

As far as I know it is Illegal to move any meteorites found in any Australian state out of the country and each different state has different laws in regards to what you are alowed to do with them. Some states like SA require them by law to be handed over to the Museum other states you can do what you like, keep them, donate them, or sell them as long as they dont leave Australia.

Here is a photo of the Replica, the medaliaon and a Rare Teardrop Tectite


Cheers Byron

Aah, that's a Clingon helmet lost in an intergalactic battle!

But what a find Byron! Get your metal detector around there to look for more space relics in that area if you can.

The Museum sure shows appreciation and makes it pleasant to donate to them with the replica, medallian, and money so it is not so bad! But do try ask them to put your name on it as the finder.

I am curious, what was the official classification of that Meteorite ? (Like an Iron, Stoney Iron, an oriented Pallasite with Olivine chrystals, etc.)

Looks like more than 3 or 4 pounds(2 kilos), how much did it weigh IF you know, if not that is fine ?

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing that story Byron. Well done. I dear say you are one of a small group of people to have such a distinguished medal.
Tributer

Beer Beeper wrote:Aah, that's a Clingon helmet lost in an intergalactic battle!

But what a find Byron! Get your metal detector around there to look for more space relics in that area if you can.

The Museum sure shows appreciation and makes it pleasant to donate to them with the replica, medallian, and money so it is not so bad! But do try ask them to put your name on it as the finder.

I am curious, what was the official classification of that Meteorite ? (Like an Iron, Stoney Iron, an oriented Pallasite with Olivine chrystals, etc.)

Looks like more than 3 or 4 pounds(2 kilos), how much did it weigh IF you know, if not that is fine ?

Thanks!

Dont talk star treck to me, the father inlaw loves it and I hate him Clingon helmet I dont know.

Mate I here is the write up on the Meteorite i found writen by Dr Allan Pring at the Adelade Museum. It is named the Kimba Meteorite.

The Kimba Meteorite is a single stone of 1.492kg found 5-10 km sout of Kimba SA, it has been clasified as a H5 Chondrite shock facies'b' and contains olivine(Fa19. orthopyroxene (fs16. clinopyroxene (w044.6En49.0F67.4), Nickle Iron, Trolite, and Chlorapatite. Mineral composition and Textures indicate that Kimba was a Metamorposed part of the H-planetoid and was mildley shocked before reaching earth.

The writeup is much longer and goes int much description about to composition and crystal formations ect but this gives you the basics.

We were rewarded with the replica and cash but this was no where near the real value of the rock, If I had a say in it I would still have it.

Cheers Byron

Hi all,
might be wrong but i thought i read somewhere
that any meteorite found after 1972 belongs to the crown,
therefore no meteorite found after this date can be exported.

if you can prove you found it before that date then no problems.
cheers fencejumper

https://i.servimg.com/u/f99/14/59/54/53/img_1211.jpg
This thing set my detector off a while back. It's almost as magnetic as iron, has a glazed surface.
Looks like petrified wood but is magnetic. It's about 1.5cm square.
Cheers !

fencejumper wrote:Hi all,
might be wrong but i thought i read somewhere
that any meteorite found after 1972 belongs to the crown,
therefore no meteorite found after this date can be exported.

if you can prove you found it before that date then no problems.
cheers fencejumper

if I find a meteorite..I wear the damn crown!

Nice speci chookfoot, interesting piece.

I'm with you on that madtuna!!

Very interesting Chook!
curious to know what it is, though I'd say man made and not heavenly. I've never seen or heard of a square or rectangular meteor, though I could be wrong.

Looking at the end it appears there is a main central shape to it with the orangish glazed outside suggesting corroding iron?

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/977798/queenslanders-battle-over-meteorite


A bitter ownership battle has broken out over the discovery of Queensland's second-biggest stony meteorite.

Tom King, 53, was caretaker at Rywanda Plainview, about 70km south of Cunnamulla, when he discovered the 25kg stony meteorite while riding his motorbike.

Seven months later he decided to fetch the rock, with the assistance of the property's lessor.

"However that was a mistake, I regret opening my mouth up about it," he told AAP on Monday.

"I should have done it seven months before."
Police arrived at Mr King's doorstep a few days later to arrest him and confiscate the rock.
Mr King claimed the lessor of the property went to police claiming he had stolen "his" rock.
"The bloke that was leasing the property found out it could be a meteorite, after I made a joke about it," Mr King said.
A police spokesman confirmed the rock is currently stored in a safe at the Cunnamulla police station, and Mr King will not be charged.

"Cunnamulla police continue to investigate to determine the lawful owner of the rock and until that determination is made the rock will remain in police possession," the spokesman said.

However, Mr King said the owner of the property has also expressed interest in claiming the rock, and as a disability pensioner he can't afford to fight both the lessor and the owner in the courts.
Mr King said he doesn't want to keep the rock, believed to be worth thousands of dollars, but wants to donate the majority of it to the local Paroo Shire Council museum in Cunnamulla.

"If it went to the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, it would be very disappointing for a town that's dying out here," he said.

Queensland Museum curator Dr Alex Cook has expressed interest in the rock, which he said is almost certainly a stony meteorite.

He said while Queensland, unlike other states, has no laws that grants ownership of meteorites to authorities or museums, he would like to analyse a 20 per cent portion of the rock.

"Meteorites are our only window into the science of the formation of the solar system because they come from the asteroid belt and tell us a great deal about how planets form," Dr Cook said.

He said if the eventual owner donated 20 per cent of the rock, he would verify its authenticity for free, something that can only be done at institutions such as the Queensland Museum.

While the owners can opt to have the rock verified interstate, Dr Cook said that option would cost "thousands of dollars".

"Some people may say they are interested to sell the meteorite, but it will be worth a lot more with an analysis done," he said.

"And it can't be exported without a major piece being in a state institution."

Dr Cook estimated that, like most stony meteorites, this particular rock is about 4.6 billion years old and judging by its "freshness" crashed to Earth within the last 100 years.

Only three stony meteorites of moderate size have been discovered in Queensland in the last decade, and just six of a small size, he said.

Mr King described Dr Cook's offer to split the rock as a win-win for everyone, however Paroo Shire Council mayor Jo Sheppard said she believed locals and tourists would prefer to see the whole rock displayed at the local museum.

However, she said if donated to the Paroo Shire Council Museum, she would look at all options to verify its authenticity if the fees at interstate institutions were too expensive.

"A lot of our tourists now are nature-based tourists, and it would be more beneficial to see the rock locally on the landscape which they came," she said.

Same old story isnt,,if you find some thing,, keep it to your self
spider

spidertice wrote:Same old story isnt,,if you find some thing,, keep it to your self
spider

True the best friend in crime is the one who is not with you!!
Cheers

Here is a little something on the topic.

http://www.nuggetshooter.com/Meteorite/MeteoriteMain.html

It seem this Post has made it to higher places

Down near the bottom of the link is a link to this post
http://www.meteorite-times.com/bobs-findings/yaringie-hill/