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Page 1: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together
Page 2: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Meteorite Times MagazineContentsby Editor

Featured Monthly Articles

Accretion Desk by Martin Horejsi

Jim's Fragments by Jim Tobin

Meteorite Market Trends by Michael Blood

Bob's Findings by Robert Verish

IMCA Insights by The IMCA Team

Micro Visions by John Kashuba

Meteorite Calendar by Anne Black

Meteorite of the Month by Editor

Tektite of the Month by Editor

Terms Of Use

Materials contained in and linked to from this website do not necessarily reflect the views oropinions of The Meteorite Exchange, Inc., nor those of any person connected therewith. In noevent shall The Meteorite Exchange, Inc. be responsible for, nor liable for, exposure to anysuch material in any form by any person or persons, whether written, graphic, audio orotherwise, presented on this or by any other website, web page or other cyber location linkedto from this website. The Meteorite Exchange, Inc. does not endorse, edit nor hold anycopyright interest in any material found on any website, web page or other cyber locationlinked to from this website.

The Meteorite Exchange, Inc. shall not be held liable for any misinformation by any author,dealer and or seller. In no event will The Meteorite Exchange, Inc. be liable for any damages,including any loss of profits, lost savings, or any other commercial damage, including but notlimited to special, consequential, or other damages arising out of this service.

© Copyright 2002–2011 The Meteorite Exchange, Inc. All rights reserved.

No reproduction of copyrighted material is allowed by any means without prior writtenpermission of the copyright owner.

Page 3: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Meteorite Times MagazineFriendly Fire from Space: Berlanguillas, Spainby Martin Horejsi

Friendly Fire from Space:

Berlanguillas, Spain

Berlanguillas fell 200 years ago on July 8, 1811 adding to the earth’s pile ofL6 chondrites. But while the classification is not too exciting, the arrival ofBerlanguillas did scare soldiers and draw crowds in anticipation of a battle.

The following translations were kindly provided by Bernd Pauli inGermany. Thanks Bernd!

Page 4: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

VII.

The fall of three meteor stones on July 8, 1811,

near Burgos in Old-Castile*

According to a report of the French divisional general Dorsenne from theBurgos headquarters to the French Institute, a violent explosioncomparable to a loud cannon shot was heard near the Spanish village ofBerlanguillas, on the road from Aranda to Roa**, on July 8, 1811, at 8o’clock in the evening, out of a clear, serene sky; another three followed;then a forth like infantry fire.

Several farmers in the fields heard this noise were frightened; it was likebullets whistling past their ears; in the soil that was blown up, they sawsomething fall; they went to look for it; it was a glowing-hot stone.

Two or three other stones had fallen about 60 steps around them. Even thecommanders of Aranda and of fort Cachabon, which is 7 hours distant, hadheard the three cannon shots, the musket fire, and especially the whistlingbullet-like sounds. They sent out patrols on reconnaissance in everydirection, though without spotting an enemy.

On the nearby hills, idle people had assembled because they thought theywould soon see the spectacle of an encounter. When the patrols came toBerlanguillas, they found the true cause of the noises and the mayor gavethem two of the stones that had fallen from the sky.

* From the papers published January 1812

Page 5: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

** Both these hamlets lie on the Duero in the Burgos district.

Additional information on the stones that fell

near Burgos, Spain, on July 8, 2011

In addition to the reports by General Dorsenne on p. 116 of the previousvolume of these Annals, I’d like add the following circumstances from hisreport:

The commanders from Aranda and from Fort Cachabon, which is about 28km (French la lieu = ca. 4 km) from Berlanguillas, had not only heard those4 explosions but also the whistling sound of the stone.

The four, pellet fire-like explosions lasted one minute. The stone hadpenetrated the soil to a depth of 8 inches and the soil surrounding the stonewas very hot and completely red (rougie); the farmers claimed to haveseen a distinct shadow in the air (presumably smoke).

The two stones, which the troups received from the alcalde (= mayor) andthe largest one of which General Dorsenne sent to the National Institute,were all of the same color.

Page 6: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Still shiny after all these years! Crust is always a treat and important whenconsidering the authenticity of a specimen.

The historical fall of Berlanguillas did not go unnoticed on its bicentennial.This poster advertised the celebration event.On a follow up page from theevent, there is a nice pic of a cut face of what I assume is the main massof Berlanguillas. At first I thought it looked more SNC-like than chondritic,but considering the age of this stone, and the rough looking cut, it might justbe weathered iron flake.

The perpetual fighting on wars on this planet, while considering the events of the fall of Berlanguillas, can’thelp but beg the question of how many meteorites have fallen in battle zones and gone unnoticed becausethe usually violent event of a meteorite impact blends into the chaos of war.

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Until next time….

The Accretion Desk welcomes all comments and feedback. [email protected]

Page 8: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Meteorite Times MagazineTucson Gem Show Memoriesby Jim Tobin

In a few days it will again be time for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. I will be off to find treasures frombeyond the Earth. If memory serves correctly this will be my twentieth Tucson Gem Show. Often I haveused the January issue of my article as a time to remember the past and get some perspective on theupcoming year. So this month will be a short journey down memory lane.

I am a kind of hands-on buyer of meteorites. I like to see and touch the meteorites that I buy if I can.Probably 40% of my collection has been gotten over the years at Tucson. I always get a little excited withanticipation about what I will find when I get there. I know that there will always be some of the moreplentiful meteorites like Canyon Diablos, Campos, Gaos and many North West Africa like NWA869 thatseem to always be around. I dream before the show of others; the ones rarely seen that will fill some gapin my collection or satisfy some unspoken desire I have.

I have shared in the past some of the ways in which my collecting has changed over the last 4 decadessince I got my first Canyon Diablo. I think if anything it is more focused now on older falls and new falls.But, I remain a sucker for that completely crusted stone whether find or fall. The last few years ofabundance with Sahara and NWA recoveries has put a big number of those crusted individuals into mycollection. And even though they will likely never be classified it does not lessen their importance to me.But, there was not always even the slightest direction to my collecting. I just loved meteorites so muchthat I got stones for practically no reason at all. Now days I at least spend some time handling them andthinking about it before they come home with me. There was a time though where there was moreurgency in the decision making. There was no flood of material from anywhere. There were only themeteorites that a handful of dealers had brought with them to the show. And if you left the room withoutbuying it there was a very good chance that you would not return even a short time later to find it still there.There just was not all the choices that we have today. So many meteorites that were locked up incollections at museums and universities have come out through trades that it has changed the way wecollect.

I remember a time of two diogenites, Tatahouine and Johnstown. I remember a time of only one of manyclassifications. There may have been many more but there was only the single location that wasoccasionally available to the collector. The others if they existed were locked away somewhere. Now withwhat has happened in the deserts of north Africa most classifications have many representatives. Andwhat about the number explosion of Martians and Lunars. Wow. It was not really that long ago that therewas no lunar material available to collectors. Then there was one in private hands for a while. Now thereare many. Though they have never grabbed me very hard I have acquired quite a few of each of thesetypes over the last few years.

During the next couple weeks I will perform my yearly ritual of preparation. I will print out a copy of mycatalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgradeto a larger specimen. I will also put together a short list of ones I would really love to add to the collectionand that I want to keep an eye out for. I never come close to filling that list but it is surprising how manytimes I have found one or two in a single show.

For the last few years Paul and I have spent much of our time looking for things to sell all day while we‘rethere. With most of the evening filled with the ever increasing number of gatherings for the meteoritecommunity to enjoy. So I do not get to run off across town to look at out of the way tents and seldomvisited hotels where no meteorite dealers advertise their presence. In years past I found some very nicespace rocks on some of those off the beaten path journeys. Maybe this year we can sneak away and dosome just for fun exploring. I think when I retire I will come to the show and stay for a long time. I will reallyget to see much more. There are so many different things I am interested in displayed at Tucson. I think itwould take a couple weeks to do a good job of looking around. Maybe next year my wife and I can go andspend a long time at the show. Paul can come out and join us for a few days so we can take care of workfor the business.

The other benefit of being there longer is you can visit meteorite dealers when they are not so busy. On

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the week of all the meteorite gatherings it is almost impossible to have a conversation with most of them.They are there to do business and it is expensive to get a suite. So being too busy to talk is a good thing.But, without a doubt Tucson is the only time I will see most of them in person all year. If I was there atanother time then the big weekend they might be free to chat a while. I guess I am an old school personeven as I write this for online use. I use email and voicemail and all the modern stuff but I enjoy seeingpeople in person more. There is something about the strength of a memory that is created in personverses one created by sending an email. I have acquired a great volume of fine memories over the lasttwenty years of Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows. And I am really looking forward to the one coming soon.If you are there and see us stop and say hello we would enjoy meeting you.

Until next month when I fill the article with pictures of the show, enjoy your meteorites.

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Meteorite-Times MagazineMeteorite Market Trendsby Michael Blood

Like 3 likes. Sign Up to see what your friends like.

This Month’sMeteorite Market Trends

by Michael Blood

Please Share and Enjoy:

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Meteorite Times MagazineWinter Drought of 2011-2012 in SW US – But not for meteorite finds.by Robert Verish

Winter Drought of 2011-2012 in SW USBut not for meteorite finds.

There won’t be a “Bob’s Findings” article this month because it happens that Mother Nature has given agift to all of us meteorite hunters, in the form of a VERY dry and mild winter, here in the SouthwesternUnited States. This is not the time to be sitting indoors in front of a computer monitor. This is the time formeteorite-recovery, as long as this weather holds up.

Usually by this time of year, snow has covered the ground in central and northern Nevada. And usually,January is the wettest month of the year in southern California, but the drylakes are bone dry, because thelast rain was in October and none is forecast for the remainder of this month. Usually at this time of year,meteorite hunters are forced to either, stay home and write about meteorite-recovery, or face trundlingover snow-covered hills and muddy flats while a cold wind chills them to the bone. But along with thepaucity of precipitation, the temperatures have been unseasonably mild, as well. Coupled with a nearlynonexistent wind, all of this has made for some perfect conditions for meteorite-recovery.

The conditions were mild at all of the localities that I visited during these past few weeks. On one trip Ideparted from San Diego with a full compliment of winter clothes and headed north, but even aftertraveling 400 miles the weather was no different than back at San Diego. It was such a pleasure to hike inthe sunlight, and without any wind blowing, I could take off my sweater and walk about with only a tee-shirt. On a second trip up north I ran into some shallow puddles, so there must have been some localprecipitation, but most of the water appeared to be coming from snow that was melting, and even thatwas drying-up quickly. It seemed like every discussion with the locals at those localities delt with thesubject of the “drought” and when it would end.

So, I feel it would be a major shame to stay home (to write my article) and not take advantage of the giftgiven to us by Mother Nature.

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Far better to hit the road again.

Look out lunars, here I come!

Post Script:

I’m not saying that I’m finding a lot of meteorites, in fact, I’m doing a lot of driving in order to find just thefew that I was lucky enough to recover. And, of course, they are all small finds and all are OrdinaryChondrites, as well. But of the ten (10) that were recovered, three (3) of them are what some people callas, “cold finds” (at least, I’m not aware of any previous finds from those localities).

Before I go out the door, I’ll post a few images of the finds from the past few weeks, below:

2011 Dec 26- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite (cold find)

2011 Dec 27- Nevada

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Ordinary Chondrite

2011 Dec 28- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite

2011 Dec 28- Nevada

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Ordinary Chondrite (unequilibrated)

2011 Dec 29- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite (cold find)

2012 Jan 04- Nevada

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Hope you enjoyed the images!

There will be more information about these meteorites, later – after winter finally arrives.

There will be plenty of time then, after I’m stuck indoors!

References:

None.

The image at the top of this article is the “View from the ISS of the Southwestern USA”, and is in thepublic domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA materialis not protected by copyright”. (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL ImageUse Policy.)

My previous articles can be found *HERE*

For for more information, please contact me by email:

Bolide*chaser

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Meteorite Times MagazineIMCA Insights – Meteorite Men, the Morasko Episode – Science afterFilmingby IMCA TEAM

IMCA Insights – January 2012Meteorite Men, the Morasko Episode -Science after Filmingby Andrzej S. Pilski

The final scene of the Morasko episode shows Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold loading their preciousfind into their car. A happy ending?

It is not a surprise that a movie is not like real life. The hunting was done in the Morasko preservearea with special permission, which did not allow finds to be removed from the preserve. The onlyexception made was for scientific research in the Institute of Geology of the Adam MickiewiczUniversity in Poznań, Poland. So when the cameras were turned off, Geoff and Steve’s the find wasunloaded and went into the car of Professor Muszyński. Bad for the finders, but good for science.

The 34 kg Morasko weathered iron found by Steve Arnold.Size: 28x24x18 cm.

It is well known that scientists owe many of their meteorites used for research to private meteoritehunters. Sadly, it is known that many meteorites do not come with all of the potentially valuableinformation related to their discovery and subsequent handling: type of soil where found, depth ofdiscovery, if and how it was cleaned, etc. I guess if the Meteorite Men could have taken their findwith them, it would have been cleaned, cut and etched for display and sale. Some importantinformation might have been lost to scientific research.

Professor Muszyński let me clean and cut the specimen for research. Does this sound the same asGeoff and Steve would do? Maybe, but I did my work for Professor Karwowski, who is an experiencedresearcher of secondary weathering minerals. All the material removed from the surface of the findwas sent to him, and the results were surprising.

Page 21: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Secondary weathering minerals after removing an endpiece from the upper right of the iron from the previous image.

It seemed to me that the find was not very weathered, so I started with chipping out the clay touncover the iron metal. Surprisingly, a quite large endpiece came out, uncovering a dark, wetsubstance with elongated shiny inclusions. I tried on another side, where the darker surfacesuggested an iron oxide on metal. Instead, I uncovered a gray mineral with rather good cleavage andno metal again. So I decided to cut an endpiece off, to see, how deep the weathering went into themeteorite and how much metal was left inside.

Etched cross section of the 34 kg find. There are many cohenite inclusions in the lower part and two schreibersite inclusions

elongated horizontally below center; the lower one is rimmed with cohenite. A part of a troilite inclusion with schreibersite

rim is seen at the upper edge. At right, between iron and clay, dark iron hydroxides are visible with cohenite inclusions.

It can be seen that some areas are much more affected by weathering than others. To the right of

Page 22: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

center, one can see a sharp border between metal and, cemented with brown iron hydroxides, clay.The same may be seen on the opposite side. But slightly lower on the right side and higher on the leftside weathering went deeper into the meteorite, turning kamacite into black iron hydroxide and leavingonly cohenite on the right side.

A microdruse of chukanovite in the 34 kg Morasko iron.(Photo by Ł. Karwowski)

The gray mineral with good cleavage mentioned earlier turned out to be the greatest discovery in theiron. It is a simple, but rare hydroxide-carbonate mineral of iron, unstable under normal atmosphericconditions. It was first discovered in the Dronino iron and named chukanovite in honor of the well-known Russian mineralogist. Morasko is the second meteorite in which this mineral was found. And thisdiscovery would not have been possible if the find had been normally cleaned for collectors who wouldhave removed all of the rust shell as a waste material.

A half specimen of 544 g Morasko shrapnel. Widmanstätten pattern is slightly distorted because of shock.

During filming I was kept aside so as not to be seen by the camera. But earlier, during scouting beforefilming, I had the privilege to be Geoff’s partner in hunting and I was lucky enough to find anotherMorasko specimen totally different from the big one. Steve’s find was individual, found deep in clayand strongly weathered. My find was shrapnel found at a shallow depth among stones and gravel andonly weakly weathered. Both finds together are evidence that weathering grade tells us more aboutconditions in the ground than about terrestrial age, which is obviously the same for both finds.

Page 23: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Digging out the 34 kg Morasko iron.

Morasko finds are strewn very densely in a relatively small area on the northern slope of a terminalmoraine left after the last glaciation. This gave reason for a supposition, that the iron could shower ona glacier and then be deposited on the moraine. However, the large iron was found embedded in the 2million year old colorful Poznań clay, which means it had to penetrate the soil instead of beingdeposited. Unfortunately, the tight schedule of filming and poor weather left no time for examining theexcavation in search of traces of a hole made by the iron penetrating the ground.

There is no doubt that it is better to recover a meteorite, even with some loss of scientific data, thanto let it rust in the ground. I would be happier, however, if meteorite hunters would keep in mind thatdata concerning the circumstances of their finds may sometimes be of greater importance than thefinds themselves.

This article has been compiled and edited by Anne Black and Norbert Classen

• IMCA Home Page • IMCA Code of Ethics • IMCA Member List• Join IMCA • IMCA Meteorite Info

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Meteorite Times MagazineMetal-troilite Intergrowthsby John Kashuba

Sometimes melt rock in meteorites contains blebs of metal-troilite (FeS) intergrowths. Here are examplesfrom two rocks. NWA 869 is the well known L3-6 regolith breccia. It took a pounding on the surface of itsparent body and contains a variety of clasts including melt rock. All 95 grams of NWA 6579 is melt rock.The composition of its olivine and its metal tell that it is an L ordinary chondrite.

Typical metal-troilite intergrowth texture. NWA 869 L3-6 regolith breccia. Field of view is 2mm wide.

Page 26: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Metal and troilite side by side, that is, not intergrown. NWA 869 L3-6 regolith breccia. Field ofview is 4 mm wide.

A triangular metal-troilite intergrowth sitting to the left of a lone bronze colored grain of troilite.

Page 27: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

NWA 869 L3-6 regolith breccia. Field of view is 2 mm wide.

A pair of droplets. NWA 869 L3-6 regolith breccia. Field of view is 3 mm wide.

Page 28: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Another pair. NWA 869 L3-6 regolith breccia. Field of view is 3 mm wide.

Irregular metal-troilite assemblage. NWA 869 L3-6 regolith breccia. Field of view is 2 mmwide.

Page 29: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Metal-troilite intergrowth. NWA 6579 L-melt rock. Field of view is 3 mm wide.

Page 30: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

An atypical intergrowth. NWA 6579 L-melt rock. Field of view is 3 mm wide.

An atypical intergrowth. NWA 6579 L-melt rock. Field of view is 3 mm wide.

Page 31: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Typical metal-troilite intergrowth. NWA 6579 L-melt rock. Field of view is 3 mm wide.

Three blebs. NWA 6579 L-melt rock. Field of view is 4 mm wide.

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Meteorite Times MagazineMeteorite Calendar – January 2012by Anne Black

Please click on the meteorite calendar to view a larger image.

Page 33: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Meteorite Times MagazineSeymchanby Editor

Our Meteorite of the Month is kindly provided by Tucson Meteorites who hosts The Meteorite Picture of theDay.

4711 gram end-cut. Pallasite PMG by Ruben Garcia Mr-Meteorite

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Submit Pictures to Meteorite Pictures of the Day

Page 38: Meteorite Times Magazine · catalogue so I limit the purchases of meteorites I already have. It also helps me to see if I want to upgrade to a larger specimen. I will also put together

Once a few decades ago this opening

was a framed window in the wall

of H. H. Nininger's Home and

Museum building. From this

window he must have many times

pondered the mysteries of

Meteor Crater seen in the distance.

Photo by © 2010 James Tobin