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Meteorite Times MagazineAugust 1997 Witnessed Fall: Worden, Michigan. A “Fender Bender”Meteoriteby Martin Horejsi

An August 1997 Witnessed Fall: Worden, Michigan USA

Worden: A Fender Bender Meteorite

For a five, Worden is filled with superb round chondrules. This 113gcomplete slice captures the essence of what was once a kilo and a halfstone.

Meteorites that land on cars deserve a special place in the subcategory of witnessed falls affectionatelyknown as hammers. I like the term “Fender Bender” to describe this exclusive class of meteorites.

Three famous Fender Bending meteorites are Benld, Peekskill and Worden. But bending fenders is notthe only thing these stones have in common. They also share fall dates around the same time of year,and Worden and Benld included garage damage on their résumé in addition to autos, and Worden andPeekskill both hit red cars.

It is funny to think about a car being dented by a bag of chondrules, butthat’s what happened here. A red 1988 Toyota Celica 2-door sedan had itsroof dented by this cosmic hitchhiker.Some pictures of the damaged carareposted here…and here

This is other side of the slice. Although it looks like the slice might taper to arazor’s edge, that’s hardly the case. This thick slice could still dosubstantial damage with thrown at another car. Why not the same car?Apparently the original earthly target, the ’88 Toyota, has long since retiredto the junkyard.

As an L chondrite, it is on the lower end of the free metal spectrum, but thatdoesn’t stop Worden from trying.The sidelighting highlights glint the freshiron.

Still splattered with Celica blood, the lack of damage of the fusion crustreminds us that under the fragile color, solid rock is found.

Another side of the thin crust on my thick slice.This edge is not as smoothas the others. I wonder if there was some orientation during its fall. Thatwould be my preference, however, more likely the stone broke apart highup in the atmosphere creating a more jagged but still fully crusted face.

Worden was a meteorite that when it hit the market, I jumped in for the biggest piece I could get. At thetime, this slice was the third largest piece of Worden. I don’t know where it falls in the collection peckingorder today, but like all Fender Bender meteorites, the Worden stone’s fame and value will long outlastany man-made jalopy.

Until next time….

The Accretion Desk welcomes all comments and feedback. accretiondesk@gmail.com

Meteorite Times MagazineUnclassified Beautyby Jim Tobin

Middle of the summer is always the time when we stay home and avoid the heat of the dessert. But, haveno fear we will get back out and hunting in the fall. So I have been spending a lot of time cutting meteoritesand that has been great fun.

I had been having a several year long love affair with continuous rim diamond blades but after getting avery bad batch from a major manufacturer I decided to go back to the blades that have the diamondpressed under notches made around the rim. I was getting actually only three cuts out of the continuousrim blades of the last batch I bought. I had used these notched blades years ago and had liked them, butchanged when the continuous rims came out and was happy till this last batch. I am even more delightedwith the notched type so I will be using them for a long while. And at about 35-40 percent of the cost ofcontinuous rim blade they are a real bargain.

So this month I will be showing off some of the material I have been finding as I cut these unclassifiedNWAs. I am always surprised by how plain and even ugly some of them are until you cut them. Then theOHs and AHs that could be heard when I see the inside. I cut one particularly unattractive stone last week.One edge was very friable so I had to be pretty careful not to have it crumble too badly in the saw. Apicture of one of the slices is shown below. It has some huge chondrules in it. Many between 3 – 5 mm indiameter. Most are radial pyroxene and you would be correct to ask how I know. Well, if you cut and lapmeteorites just right, radial chondrules will shine under bright light and you can see the rays spreadacross them. And when they are as big as the ones in this meteorite it is really cool to not need more thena hand lens to enjoy them.

I think many of my readers are familiar with NWA 869. It is really quite a remarkable meteorite. First, it wasavailable in truly vast amounts. It is still easily available to collectors. It was very challenging to look at andtry to figure out what classification to put it in. Even today the range of the lithologies in it is discussable. Ihave it recorded in my database and my specimen cards as L3.8-6. But, I have seen a variety ofdescriptions. This stems from it being a very brecciated meteorite. There are bits of nearly anything youcan imagine in it. Well, I came across one in my cutting this last month that was even more interestingthen NWA 869. From its external characteristics of being much fresher with great fusion crust I amconfident it is not NWA869. Yet, when I cut it the brecciation made me think of NWA 869. In our worldtoday it is unlikely that visual pairing will every be sorted out officially with lab work. My opinion is still that itis a different meteorite but similar. I offer the following picture that shows breccia as the textbooksdescribe it. Angular pieces of other rocks mixed in matrix to form a new rock. Angular is the characteristicthat we often do not see so well. In this stone the sharp corners were prominent.

Now I have written on really ugly meteorites before, how they are always full of surprises. Well, a friendhad some stones for a great price and when I saw them I knew he had told the truth about how ugly theywere. Most of the pieces in the box looked little like meteorite. I am certain I would have passed them by inthe desert when hunting. Others had some relic fusion crust and looked a little better. There were lines ofyellow and green on the sides of some suggesting that they might once have had algae on them. Iexpected when I cut them to find a totally weathered metal-free old meteorite. I had put a magnet on a fewpieces and the attraction was quite weak. But, once again you just can not judge a stone from its outsideappearance. There were some that did have just a scattering of tiny sparkles of metal remaining, othershowever, had lighter colored matrix with classic H chondrite metal content spread across the cut face.There were visible chondrules of 1-2 mm in diameter that were not in well defined condition. So perhaps atype 5-6 would be my guess. I will have plenty of fun working with this material over the next few years.

With a week or so having passed since beginning writing this I put about 200 cuts on the first of thoseblades. While doing a hand held cut it pinched up and got slightly dished. So I am on blade number two ofthe batch and very delighted by their performance. They cut fast and straight and are not bothered bymetal, though you can tell when you hit big metal by the slight slowing of the cut. The blades are made ofplain steel however, and that means that I have to drain the saw after cutting . So I am using a lot ofcoolant water and accumulating a considerable amount of cutting mud which I allow to settle and then dry.With a stainless steel blade I would not worry so much about draining the saw and the mud would stay inthe saw at the bottom of the coolant tank.

I have not had enough inspiration as to what to do with all the cutting dust that I am recovering. I have nothad time to do some of the experiments that I want to do. But, the list right now includes glaze coloring forceramics, pigments in paints and inks and of course I am using it already in my papermaking as acoloring and magnetic additive. Have not tried to sell the dust but, others are doing that, and we may dothat someday as well. It seems like a shame to just dispose of the cutting dust as if it was from regularrock.

The cataloguing of my unclassified meteorites continues and I told readers a couple months ago that Iwould keep them posted as the database grew. I have numbers painted on 76 stones at this point withdescriptions and weights for them recorded. I have more to do mostly in a display case and then I think Iwill have the vast majority of all my meteorites in their respective classified and unclassified databases.Now my problem of careful storage remains. I have been accumulating wooden boxes; the kind delicateinstruments used to be stored in. I will use them with foam for some of the big specimens and others willbe stored in number order in plastic compartment boxes. Many will continue to be on display. Unlike theclassified and historic specimens in my collection I worry less about exposing these unclassified to theenviornment. And none has ever shown any effects of being on display.

Well, I guess I will end with one of the nicest unclassified that I have stumbled across in the last fewyears. The number of really fine meteorites to be found in every dealer tent in Tucson had dropped to nearzero from a couple years earlier where at least one meteorite was obligatory. On an early morning stroll Ifound this one stone remaining in a tent full of craved fossil ashtrays and quartz crystals. As soon as Isaw it my mind screamed El Hammami. I have cut a lot of the real thing in the past and it is quite uniquewith its metal veins and dark chondrules. I know I can not list it as El Hammami in my catalogue but itsbeautiful fresh fusion crust, abundant metal, dark easy to see chondrules made it a meteorite I wanted toget. It was a little more money then I wanted to spend on an unclassified stone but really it was only thirtycents or so a gram. Still a good buy. So here it is for your enjoyment. I could see the metal veins running

through the broken surface, I made a nice window on it after getting home from the show. The total weightwas near 500 grams. The main piece in the photos is still 478 grams. In the photo of the cut face pleasenote the thickness of the fusion crust and the very straight shock line running through the whole stone.

Well until next month have a great time with your collections and always look for that hidden somethingspecial in even the commonest looking meteorite.

Meteorite-Times MagazineMeteorite Market Trendsby Michael Blood

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Meteorite Times MagazineRon Hartman – 1935-2011by Editor

Ron Hartman – 1935-2011Commemorating the life of our colleague, and my personal friend.

The recent passing of Ron Hartman has prompted me to postpone this month’s article, and instead tomake notice of this sad news.

Due to my being out-of-town when I learned of his passing, and my inablility to access my computer files,this article will be highly abbreviated in order for it to be included in the September publication of Meteorite-Times Magazine.

Next month’s issue of Meteorite-Times Magazine will have a more proper tribute to our colleague and myfriend, Ron Hartman.

UPDATE:

Click here to go to “ A Tribute to Ron Hartman” – an extension of this Bob’s Findings Article forSeptember 2011 – to see an on-going compilation of links regarding the life and passing of RonHartman.In the meanwhile, feel free to add your Comments below.

REFERENCES:

Search results for internet references to Ron Hartman:

IMCA co-founderRon’s websiteLucerne Valley Meteoritehttp://www.michaelbloodmeteorites.com/TektiteParty05.htmlhttp://www.meteorite-times.com/index_of_articles/Meteorites_101_Index.htm

My previous articles can be found *HERE*

For for more information, please contact me by email: Bolide*chaser

Meteorite Times MagazineIMCA Insights – September 2011by IMCA TEAM

IMCA Insights – September 2011Brian Mason Award 2011,by Florian J. Zurfluh

The author in the field(Photo courtesy of the author)

As recipient of the Brian Mason travel award for the Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society 2011,it is a great pleasure to write some lines about myself. Currently I'm a PhD student at the University ofBern, Switzerland, and involved in the Omani-Swiss meteorite search and research project. Thisincludes field work in the hot desert of the Sultanate of Oman followed by investigation of thereturned samples in the laboratory. The main focus of my studies is the weathering and contaminationof ordinary chondrites.

I grew up in the heart of Switzerland surrounded by high mountains. With my family, I often wenthiking in the mountains and occasionally looked for crystals. My favorite mineral was the black varietyof quartz-morion, or smoky quartz. After high school I decided to study geology - I was interested tolearn more about the rocks we live on and was fascinated by the unique blend of classes, fieldtrips,and labwork this study offers. As a consequence of my interest in dark minerals and rocks, I studiedvolcanic rocks for my bachelor's thesis. This work was done with a colleague and we performedfieldwork for five days in a pit in the Eifel, Germany.

Until this stage of my studies, meteorites were only treated peripherally in some geochemistry ormineralogy classes. For my master's studies, I took a chance and chose a topic where I could studythese fascinating extraterrestrial rocks in more depth. In 2007 I could joined the field team of theOmani-Swiss meteorite search project for the first time. I was still looking for dark minerals and rocks,but now in a completely flat environment: the hot desert of Oman. After the completion of mymaster's thesis, I got the chance to do a PhD in the same project. In this context I was back in Omanfor several weeks during the winters 2009 and 2010.

As mentioned above, the topic of our work is mainly the weathering and contamination of ordinarychondrites. We are interested in the interaction of the environment with the meteorite. The influencesof the local soil composition, climate, and biology on the weathering are studied.

Careful planning of the fieldwork is fundamental. Suitable surfaces for meteorite recovery are selectedusing satellite images available from Google Earth. Based on our experience from former campaigns(the first expedition was performed in 2001), we are able to interpret the satellite images accuratelyand to plan our routes along ideal surfaces. During the campaigns in which I was involved, we mainlyfollowed routes from the coast towards the interior of the country. The idea behind this was to findmeteorites at various distances from the sea in a transect to study the influence of the distance tothe sea on the weathering. The search for meteorites is performed visually by car or on foot. To getan idea of the find density, we systematically searched several quarters of a square kilometer on foot.

When a meteorite is found, we record its coordinates by GPS, take a photograph with label, estimatethe degree of burial, collect all fragments, and weigh the five largest fragments and note the totalmass. Samples are wrapped without touching in polypropylene bags to avoid contamination. Therecording of the coordinates is essential for further studies to find density and to answer thequestion, which stones are paired, i.e., belonging to the same fall event. In hot deserts, meteoritesusually are found in the place where they have fallen. This allows us to reconstruct meteorite strewnfields.

When the meteorites reach the Natural History Museum of Bern, we unpack them, again withouttouching, clean them with pressurized air, count the number of fragments, and once more take theweights. I have to note here that we have been loaned the samples just for study: they remainproperty of the Sultanate of Oman. After a macroscopic description of weathering features such aswind ablation, the meteorites are cut and thin sections for classification are produced. The degree ofshock and weathering and the petrologic type of the chondrites are determined individually throughthe use of optical microscopy in reflected and transmitted light by at least two persons forverification. Afterwards I measure the composition of the minerals with the electron microprobe toassign the group. Most of the meteorites are ordinary chondrites of the groups H or L. Afterclassification, the pairing of meteorites is determined by comparing meteorites with similarclassifications and close geographical provenance with each other. The whole procedure ofclassification and checking for pairing is very time consuming and not a trivial issue, but it isnecessary. We have now collected and analyzed a large number of meteorite samples from asignificant area, which allow us to do statistics on a unique and very significant meteorite population.

The classification by microscopy is one of the most intensive steps, but one is rewarded by thebeautiful colors of olivine and pyroxene under crossed nicols in transmitted light. But most of themeteorites from Oman are moderately to heavily weathered, resulting in brownish staining and onsetof networks of iron hydroxide veins. One of our goals is to detect which features overprint the pristinesignatures of the meteorites. We do mineral characterization in reflected light by using a scanningelectron microscope with an energy dispersive spectrometer and X-ray diffraction. We determine thechemical composition with a hand-held X-ray fluorescence device (HHXRF). You can see me using thisinstrument in the picture above the article. It allows us to measure the composition of rocks non-destructively, even in the field, which supports a fast classification. While in the field, we were able toidentify the rock I analyzed in the picture as a diogenite, an orthopyroxene-rich rock probably derivedfrom asteroid 4 Vesta.

In the study I received the award for, we focused on the strontium contamination of ordinarychondrites found in Oman. We measured a large amount of our collected meteorites for their chemicalcomposition and observed strontium accumulations up to 200 times the initial value. The Sr content ofunaltered ordinary chondrite is between 9 and 11 ppm. We measured up to 2200 ppm! Inside themeteorites we measured concentrations up to 888 ppm. It is certain that the Sr is derived fromoutside. But from where? To solve this question we performed 87Sr/86Sr ratio analyses of threemeteorites with various distances from the sea. In addition, corresponding soil samples were analyzed.The results showed the local soil to be the source of the strontium, since the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of thethree soil samples is different for the three geographical localities and is similar to the correspondingmeteorite. With this method we can exclude sea spray as an important source of Sr for thecontamination of meteorites in Oman.

Cut surface of an ordinary chondrite from Oman with efflorescence of hygroscopic salts (Photo by the author)

The contamination of Sr is a continuous process and it shows a positive correlation to the terrestrialresidence time. My goal is to be able to estimate the terrestrial age of a meteorite from Oman basedon visual weathering effects, the amount of accumulated Sr, and the degree of weathering. For thispurpose we have slightly refined the usually applied weathering scale.

Our work shows that it is worthwhile and important to classify and study every ordinary chondrite andthat recording of the find location is indispensable.

On weekends I'm still often in the mountains hiking and climbing with eyes open for black rocks. So farI have found several pieces which had impacted on Earth - but unfortunately they all also startedhere: they were all of military origin. But nevertheless, I still walk with open eyes on the glaciers andscree slopes and I hope to one day run across a “Swiss” meteorite. When I have “failed” on theweekends, I can go during work to the Natural History Museum where, beside some nice quartzcrystals from my place of origin, meteorites from all over the world (including Oman and Switzerland)are on display.

Finally, I would like to thank some people who helped me during the project: First of all my supervisorsBeda Hofmann, Edwin Gnos, and Urs Eggenberger. Then I acknowledge the effort of Igor Villa, DeaVögelin, and Nicolas Greber who made the strontium isotope analyses possible and Tim Jull whodetermined the terrestrial ages of the meteorites. Roland Bächli and Marc Dupayrat helped us with thehandling of the Niton HHXRF. I would also like to thank Ali Al-Rajhi from the Ministry of Commerce andIndustry, Sultanate of Oman, who enabled us to work in Oman and loaned the samples for study. Mystudies are financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), grant 200020-119937. Andultimately, I appreciate the IMCA for providing students the Brian Mason travel award.

Florian J. Zurfluh

This article has been edited by Anne Black and Norbert Classen

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Meteorite Times MagazineIsheyevoby John Kashuba

Right now Isheyevo is being called a CH/CBb and might not even be a chondrite in the usual sense of theterm. It is a complex mix of components from different sources. For example, there are two distinctpopulations of CAIs. There are two sets of chondrule textures corresponding to two blended lithologies.And the phyllosilicates found as shells around some chondrules are compositionally different than thosefound in hydrated matrix lumps – of which there are three types.

David Weir’s excellent site presents a broad digest of recent work on this member of the CR clan. HisMeteorite Studies site offers both overviews and extensive detail. It presents all credible sides when thereare differing views and it is updated often.

http://www.meteoritestudies.com/protected_ISHEYEVO.HTM

http://www.meteoritestudies.com/

Isheyevo is dominated by a metal-rich lithology with 50% to 60% nickel-iron. Other parts have as little as7% metal. The following pictures are of metal rich samples.

Looking past the saw marks we see that even within the metal-rich lithology there are variations in silicatedistribution. Here they appear in waves. This part slice is 25 mm tall. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Thin section with light reflecting to highlight metal. Sample is 16 mm wide. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Thin section with transmitted light. Sample is 16 mm wide. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Center section of the same thin section in transmitted cross polarized light (XPL). Isheyevo CH/CBb

Detail of the same thin section. The two largest chondrules appear to have layered forms. XPL. IsheyevoCH/CBb

The black sectors are metal grains surrounded by silicates. Incident light. Isheyevo CH/CBb

A large chondrule surrounded by metal – the light colored material – and containing metal internally.Incident light. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Variety of features. XPL. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Variety of features. XPL. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Variety of features. XPL. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Variety of features. XPL. Isheyevo CH/CBb

Meteorite Times MagazineMeteorite Calendar – September 2011by Anne Black

Meteorite Times MagazineMeteorite Crater Study Kitby Editor

Meteorite Times MagazineMuong Nong Tektiteby Editor

Thailand Muong Nong weight 1500 grams

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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