(meteorobs) Meteorite pix
Matt Mundorf
MattM at trafconinc.com
Wed Dec 3 14:54:47 EST 2008
Heya everyone,
One thing that I'm curios about. Could any of these crash landed
meteorites be radioactive? Or is that really rare that toxic
radioactivity is a concern when handling newly discovered fallen
objects?
Thanks,
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
[mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of Bruce McCurdy
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:07 PM
To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Meteorite pix
The meteorites in the initial find, including the one pictured with
Ellen, were frozen into the ice and had to be chipped out with a
geologist's
hammer.
The four fragments that Frank and I discovered the next day were
also in
ice. The two medium-sized fragments (2-3 cm) were embedded but could be
lifted out, leaving a small depression in the ice with some liquid water
in
it. The larger fragment was frozen solid with just a portion protruding,
and
needed to be chipped out. The smallest one was also frozen in, and in
fact
the entire object was slightly below the surface.
We got the distinct impression that there was a freeze/thaw process
at
play. The afternoon we discovered them the ice was a little soft in
places,
especially where direct sunlight fell (which was limited by the low sun
angle and the fact the pond was in a valley). By then of course it was
nine
days after the fall, so this thaw/freeze process may well have been
repeated
on several occasions.
I really have no idea if the meteorites came to rest exactly where
they
landed, or if they hit and bounced and their encasement in ice all
occurred
subsequently.
I will shortly have access to Frank's pictures from our recovery
zone;
we only took one camera on that scramble down a rather daunting
embankment.
If there's a good close-up I will post it to the website.
Bruce
*****
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