January 1812 ** Both These Hamlets Lie on the Duero in the Burgos District

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Friendly Fire from Space: Berlanguillas, Spain by Martin Horejsi

Friendly Fire from Space: Berlanguillas, Spain

Berlanguillas fell 200 years ago on July 8, 1811 adding to the earth’s pile of L6 chondrites. But while the classification is not too exciting, the arrival of Berlanguillas did scare soldiers and draw crowds in anticipation of a battle.

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

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 the Burgos headquarters to the French Institute, a violent explosion comparable to a loud cannon shot was heard near the Spanish village of Berlanguillas, on the road from Aranda to Roa**, on July 8, 1811, at 8 o’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 like bullets whistling past their ears; in the soil that was blown up, they saw something 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 the commanders of Aranda and of fort Cachabon, which is 7 hours distant, had heard the three cannon shots, the musket fire, and especially the whistling bullet-like sounds. They sent out patrols on reconnaissance in every direction, though without spotting an enemy.

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

* From the papers published January 1812 ** 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 previous volume of these Annals, I’d like add the following circumstances from his report:

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

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

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

Still shiny after all these years! Crust is always a treat and important when considering 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 the event, there is a nice pic of a cut face of what I assume is the main mass of 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 just be weathered iron flake.

The perpetual fighting on wars on this planet, while considering the events of the fall of Berlanguillas, can’t help but beg the question of how many meteorites have fallen in battle zones and gone unnoticed because the usually violent event of a meteorite impact blends into the chaos of war. Until next time….

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

Tucson Gem Show Memories by 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 from beyond the Earth. If memory serves correctly this will be my twentieth Tucson Gem Show. Often I have used the January issue of my article as a time to remember the past and get some perspective on the upcoming 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 with anticipation about what I will find when I get there. I know that there will always be some of the more plentiful meteorites like Canyon Diablos, Campos, Gaos and many North West Africa like NWA869 that seem to always be around. I dream before the show of others; the ones rarely seen that will fill some gap in 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 decades since 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 of abundance with Sahara and NWA recoveries has put a big number of those crusted individuals into my collection. 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 much that I got stones for practically no reason at all. Now days I at least spend some time handling them and thinking about it before they come home with me. There was a time though where there was more urgency in the decision making. There was no flood of material from anywhere. There were only the meteorites that a handful of dealers had brought with them to the show. And if you left the room without buying 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 in collections at museums and universities have come out through trades that it has changed the way we collect.

I remember a time of two diogenites, Tatahouine and Johnstown. I remember a time of only one of many classifications. There may have been many more but there was only the single location that was occasionally available to the collector. The others if they existed were locked away somewhere. Now with what has happened in the deserts of north Africa most classifications have many representatives. And what about the number explosion of Martians and Lunars. Wow. It was not really that long ago that there was no lunar material available to collectors. Then there was one in private hands for a while. Now there are many. Though they have never grabbed me very hard I have acquired quite a few of each of these types 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 my 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 a short list of ones I would really love to add to the collection and that I want to keep an eye out for. I never come close to filling that list but it is surprising how many times 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‘re there. With most of the evening filled with the ever increasing number of gatherings for the meteorite community to enjoy. So I do not get to run off across town to look at out of the way tents and seldom visited hotels where no meteorite dealers advertise their presence. In years past I found some very nice space rocks on some of those off the beaten path journeys. Maybe this year we can sneak away and do some just for fun exploring. I think when I retire I will come to the show and stay for a long time. I will really get to see much more. There are so many different things I am interested in displayed at Tucson. I think it would take a couple weeks to do a good job of looking around. Maybe next year my wife and I can go and spend a long time at the show. Paul can come out and join us for a few days so we can take care of work for the business.

The other benefit of being there longer is you can visit meteorite dealers when they are not so busy. On 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 at another time then the big weekend they might be free to chat a while. I guess I am an old school person even as I write this for online use. I use email and voicemail and all the modern stuff but I enjoy seeing people in person more. There is something about the strength of a memory that is created in person verses one created by sending an email. I have acquired a great volume of fine memories over the last twenty 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. Meteorite-Times Magazine

Meteorite Market Trends by Michael Blood

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

Winter Drought of 2011-2012 in SW US

But not for meteorite finds.

There won’t be a “Bob’s Findings” article this month because it happens that Mother Nature has given a gift to all of us meteorite hunters, in the form of a VERY dry and mild winter, here in the Southwestern United States. This is not the time to be sitting indoors in front of a computer monitor. This is the time for meteorite-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 the last 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 trundling over snow-covered hills and muddy flats while a cold wind chills them to the bone. But along with the paucity of precipitation, the temperatures have been unseasonably mild, as well. Coupled with a nearly nonexistent 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 I departed from San Diego with a full compliment of winter clothes and headed north, but even after traveling 400 miles the weather was no different than back at San Diego. It was such a pleasure to hike in the 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 local precipitation, but most of the water appeared to be coming from snow that was melting, and even that was drying-up quickly. It seemed like every discussion with the locals at those localities delt with the subject 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 gift given to us by Mother Nature. 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 the few that I was lucky enough to recover. And, of course, they are all small finds and all are Ordinary Chondrites, as well. But of the ten (10) that were recovered, three (3) of them are what some people call as, “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 Ordinary Chondrite

2011 Dec 28- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite

2011 Dec 28- Nevada Ordinary Chondrite

2011 Dec 28- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite (unequilibrated) Ordinary Chondrite (unequilibrated)

2011 Dec 29- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite (cold find)

2012 Jan 04- Nevada Ordinary Chondrite (cold find)

2012 Jan 07- Nevada

Ordinary Chondrite

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 the public domain because it was created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright”. (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)

My previous articles can be found *HERE*

For for more information, please contact me by email:

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IMCA Insights – Meteorite Men, the Morasko Episode – Science after Filming by IMCA TEAM

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

The final scene of the Morasko episode shows Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold loading their precious find 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 preserve area with special permission, which did not allow finds to be removed from the preserve. The only exception made was for scientific research in the Institute of Geology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. So when the cameras were turned off, Geoff and Steve’s the find was unloaded 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 A rnold. Size: 28x24x18 cm.

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

Professor Muszyński let me clean and cut the specimen for research. Does this sound the same as Geoff and Steve would do? Maybe, but I did my work for Professor Karwowski, who is an experienced researcher of secondary weathering minerals. All the material removed from the surface of the find was sent to him, and the results were surprising. 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 to uncover the iron metal. Surprisingly, a quite large endpiece came out, uncovering a dark, wet substance with elongated shiny inclusions. I tried on another side, where the darker surface suggested an iron oxide on metal. Instead, I uncovered a gray mineral with rather good cleavage and no metal again. So I decided to cut an endpiece off, to see, how deep the weathering went into the meteorite 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. A t 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 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 left side weathering went deeper into the meteorite, turning kamacite into black iron hydroxide and leaving only 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 the iron. It is a simple, but rare hydroxide-carbonate mineral of iron, unstable under normal atmospheric conditions. 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 this discovery would not have been possible if the find had been normally cleaned for collectors who would have 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 before filming, I had the privilege to be Geoff’s partner in hunting and I was lucky enough to find another Morasko specimen totally different from the big one. Steve’s find was individual, found deep in clay and strongly weathered. My find was shrapnel found at a shallow depth among stones and gravel and only weakly weathered. Both finds together are evidence that weathering grade tells us more about conditions in the ground than about terrestrial age, which is obviously the same for both finds. Digging out the 34 kg Morasko iron.

Morasko finds are strewn very densely in a relatively small area on the northern slope of a terminal moraine left after the last glaciation. This gave reason for a supposition, that the iron could shower on a glacier and then be deposited on the moraine. However, the large iron was found embedded in the 2 million year old colorful Poznań clay, which means it had to penetrate the soil instead of being deposited. Unfortunately, the tight schedule of filming and poor weather left no time for examining the excavation 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, than to let it rust in the ground. I would be happier, however, if meteorite hunters would keep in mind that data concerning the circumstances of their finds may sometimes be of greater importance than the finds themselves.

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

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Metal-troilite Intergrowths by John Kashuba

Sometimes melt rock in meteorites contains blebs of metal-troilite (FeS) intergrowths. Here are examples from two rocks. NWA 869 is the well known L3-6 regolith breccia. It took a pounding on the surface of its parent 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 2 mm wide.

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

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

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 mm wide.

Metal-troilite 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.

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. Meteorite Times Magazine

Meteorite Calendar – January 2012 by Anne Black

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

Seymchan by Editor

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

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

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Skeletal Remnant of a Hollow Indochinite by Editor

Photo credit: Sean Murray

Photo credit: Sean Murray Meteorite Times Magazine

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