Meteorite Times Magazine Contents by 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 Norm’s Tektite Teasers by Norm Lehrman Meteorite Calendar by Anne Black Meteorite of the Month by Editor Tektite of the Month by Editor
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Meteorite Times Magazine 69354 is the Zip Code for Mars[land] by Martin Horejsi In 1933, a 2.25kg meteorite was discovered in the community of Marsland, Nebraska. While not technically Mars, Marsland is, you have to admit, a pretty cool name for a meteorite even if only an H5.
The Marsland chondrite is from the red state of Nebraska. This image shows the polished face of my slice highlighting the delicate metal flake, trio of iron nodules, and occasional chondrule. Marsland was not named after the wonderful Red Planet, but instead for Thomas Marsland, the general freight manager for the railroad at the time of Marsland’s founding on August 28, 1889. Marsland shares not only my birth state, but also my current time zone. Located in the far northwest corner of Nebraska, it makes the cut into Mountain Standard Time that stretches all the way to eastern Oregon while any meteorite witnessed to fall slightly east of Marsland will be recorded in Central Standard Time.
The unpolished face of Marsland also contains a specimen number from the Jim Schwade collection, as well as a pair of inked letters that appear to be [gr.] meaning gram and in the notation that H. H. Nininger often used to denote the weights of slices. From a collecting standpoint, Marsland is a find with a reasonably low TKW and equally low distribution. As an H5 ordinary chondrite Marsland holds the second most common classification after the L6 chondrites. While very few non-falls find friendship in my collection, Marsland is one of the exceptions due exclusively to its name.
The “crust� on Marsland is little more then a textured skin that has oxidized over the decades as it sat alone and unappreciated in a Nebraska field. Nebraska meteorites are far from rare, and 1933 was a popular year for witnessed
falls and finds alike so there is no magic in that number. The classification, and the size of the single recovered stone are unexciting, and while a reasonably fresh interior, the exterior confesses a terrestrial history extending long before Nebraska was officially recognized as a state.
A more accurate feature of Marsland that tells the story of a long terrestrial life is the degree to which the earth as invaded the space of the stone. A thin but clearly present weathering rind extends several millimeters from the crust towards the stone’s heart. My rectangular slice of Marsland has one edge of crust and two nice faces. The polished of the two faces show a rich black matrix sprinkled plenty of fine-grained metal flake, troilite, and the occasional chondrule. The unpolished face bares the notation of once being in the James Schwade Meteorite Collection, and upon whose card identifies the source previous to Jim as David New, a mainstay in meteorite dealership during the 80s and 90s.
I considered David New a friend because like many who practiced the art of meteorite collecting in the 1990s, David was an mentor, teacher, and dealer of fine specimens. Although my collecting deliberately targets historic witnessed falls, Marsland is a welcome exception to my rule. I am happy to add any planetary-named meteorite to my collection regardless of the size of the audience in attendance during its earthly birth. Until next time‌.
Meteorite Times Magazine Meteorites at Lick Observatory by James Tobin My wife and I took a road trip recently up to Santa Cruz to see our daughter and granddaughter. We called her and said we were about twenty minutes from the hotel and she could head that way to meet us. She was picking us up as soon as we could check in and taking us to Lick Observatory over on the other side of San Jose. It was about an hour and a half drive to the observatory which is on top of Mount Hamilton. The observatory is actually pretty far from the city and I would guess it is still a reasonably dark site. But, no one is really allowed to be there at night. There is still some active observing going on, though the facility is clearly in decline from what we could see and were told.
It was about 1 pm when we arrived and it was just a few minutes wait until the next tour began. There were just a handful of people there for the talk inside the dome of the 36 inch refractor. I remember reading as a kid about the telescope. There were always these wonderful photographs with a credit given to Lick Observatory. Here I was standing under the great tube of the historic scope.
Our guide who was also the cashier in the gift store gave a nice talk about the scope and the history of the mountain. She asked a question of the group. How does the astronomer look into the eyepiece of the scope as the height changes from position to position? None of us knew the answer and she told us that the floor rises and lowers under the control of the astronomer. He has command of the turning of the dome and the floor while he stands or sits in a chair observing. One of the people asked if we could see the floor go up and she said she does it sometimes and that today could be one of those times. It was pretty cool to see the whole wooden floor of the observatory rise in front of us as we stood out on the edge near the wall. Once the floor was up we got a view into the basement where the grave of James Lick was placed. He never saw the telescope finished but that was not as important to him it seems as the actual creating of the observatory itself.
We headed down the main hallway to the display rooms and the gift store. I left the family and went to the room with all the historical displays; while they went for souvenirs. And what do you think I found immediately upon enter the little museum room? You got it, meteorites.
This is a beautiful piece of Cumberland Falls
A very nice large Plainview stone. There were only a few but they were actually really cool. The piece of Cumberland Falls was I think the largest piece I have ever seen. It looked to be 60-70 grams maybe a little less. But, since you usually see just crumbs for sale or small fragments this was exciting. There was a very sweet Plainview which was probably around 800-1000 grams and completely fusion crusted. Several Canyon Diablos were in the display case. Not surprising to see them since the heyday of the observatory was during the big debate and recognition time of Meteor Crater. Canyon Diablos were going everywhere around the world at a crazy rate. Two of the Canyon Diablos were typical sharp edged torn metal pieces. However, the largest meteorite on display was a Canyon diablo which was covered with holes. It was quite unusual. It looked to be over a hundred pounds.
This cut and etched Canyon Diablo is showing a little corrosion but this author thinks it has been sitting in this display case for around 80 years. They receive maybe a once a year feather dusting probably at most so stable meteorites can do well with little attention.
Two very typical Canyon Diablos are seen here.
This Canyon Diablo is full of holes and is quite unusual. There was a nice stone with a label that said it was one of about fifty stones found in 1897 and 1898 in Ness County, Kansas. There are three Ness meteorites listed in the Catalogue of Meteorites. But this has to be one of those recovered from the find in 1894 which is an L6 with a total known weight of 82kgs. The date on the label excludes the H4 found in 1938 and the weight excludes the last Ness which has no recovery date but is only a single stone of 0.399 kg and did not come to light until 1999.
There was one other large slice of meteorite with no specific information and though I tried hard to get a picture of its surface the lighting made it impossible to shoot through the glare of the glass case. All the meteorites had been presented to the Lick Observatory by a W. H. Crocker. I cannot be sure from just the name but I think it likely that the W. H. Crocker shown on the old yellowed ID cards of the meteorites
it likely that the W. H. Crocker shown on the old yellowed ID cards of the meteorites is the Crocker of banking fame. He was also a regent of the University of California the body responsible for Lick Observatory. He was a major financier of the reconstruction of San Francisco after the quake and fire. Both he and his wife were patrons of the arts and creators of museums. I am strongly led to believe this is the correct man who donated the meteorites but I wish I had thought to ask up at the observatory. After finishing at the main building with lots of pictures taken and souvenirs in hand we headed across the property to the few parking spots near the 120 inch reflector. For a time this was the second largest scope in the world. It is interesting that the glass for the 120 inch mirror was a test casting done by Corning Glass in preparation for casting the 200 inch blank of the Palomar telescope. The 36 inch refractor and 120 inch reflector are the only two domes open to the public.
We could see that the property is not being maintained very well. It is a shame that because the science has passed this historic location by and is being done on larger state of the art new telescopes that there should be no funding spent on upkeep to the buildings at Lick. We heard from some of the personnel that when they retire their residences are no longer available for someone new. They will from then on be forever vacant. Some of the buildings many of which are cute wooden structures with great style are badly suffering from age and exposure. I am well aware of the money problems that schools of higher education suffer with in California. But, Lick is a famous site and deserves better than to simple dissolve to dust from neglect.
It is a great place to see but be prepared for a long winding drive up a narrow road if you ascend the mountain from the San Jose side. The road is the original road that was used to bring up the materials for the buildings and scopes a hundred years ago. I have been up a lot of old roads to observatories and this is among the longer of the roads. But, the history is worth it. There are public observing times during the year and special programs with music held up at the observatory. We were told the large reflector is available for online use by schools with a staff member is available to work the instrument.
Meteorite-Times Magazine Meteorite Market Trends by Michael Blood Like
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Meteorite Times Magazine Part 2 of Primm Meteorites by Robert Verish
The effort to reconstruct fragmented meteorites continues
This is an exceptionally well-made resin-cast fabricated by Paul Gessler from meteorite fragments that he found and reconstructed into the original mass, minus one (still) missing piece. Part 1 of this story was my last article (May 2013) and was titled: Primm and the other Roach Dry Lake Meteorites. The Primm meteorite was found in Clark County in southern Nevada. It was found on 1997 December 23rd. Paul Gessler’s father, Nicholas Gessler, discovered the first Primm Meteorite. Nick and his family went on to find 104 more meteorite fragments with a total mass of 3.383 kg. Many of these fragments could be fit together to form larger masses, essentially “reconstructing” the original stone. The above Primm Meteorite cast was made by Paul Gessler (Nick Gessler’s son). He did this as a follow-up to his request on the Meteorite-List for “help” in completing a puzzle Primm meteorite that he had reconstructed from found fragments. For the reader’s convenience, I’ve transcribed Paul’s post below: Subject: [meteorite-list] PRIMM – DRY LAKE HELP From: Paul Gessler Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:57:08 -0700 To all You hunters who have searched Primm / Roach Dry lake: Please help me to rebuild one of my favourite meteorite finds. This 242 g individual was found back in 1997 and was reconstructed from 3 pieces and glued back together. It is still missing a small 8 gram wedge shaped piece that hopefully can be reunited with the main mass??? Just want all of you who have hunted Roach D.L. to take a look at this video and see if just maybe you have the piece I am looking for. It would be Incredible to
see if just maybe you have the piece I am looking for. It would be Incredible to COMPLETE this meteorite's saga. If found, I would be happy to substitute for a larger Primm piece from our collection...and some detailed info on a Nevada strewn field that has yielded some really Amazing finds. Let me know. thanks. Would also be interested in the locations and mass of additional finds regardless of matching my piece so that I can get an idea of what we missed. I want this attempt at unification to get out to everyone so please forward the video to anyone you know who has searched this location or is even slightly interested. This just might work? I hope. Paul Gessler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW54tdOXWiE
Another image of the Primm cast made by Paul Gessler. Excellent workmanship! Thanks for the cast, Paul!. REFERENCES: The Wikipedia: entry for Primm - contains links about the Primm Valley (State Line) area in southern Nevada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primm,_Nevada http://www.meteorite-times.com/bobs-findings/primm-and-the-other-roach-dry-lakemeteorites-another-effort-to-reconstruct-fragmented-meteorites/ The Primm (H5) Meteorite: 104 meteorite fragments weighing a total of 3.383 kg were recovered by Nicholas Gessler after an extensive search of Roach Dry Lake ‌ http://gessler.bol.ucla.edu/Primm.htm
PRIMM meteorite Roach Dry Lake: Published on Apr 19, 2013 – Paul Gessler’s video of his Primm (H5)meteorite fragments which he reconstucted into a whole stone weighing a total of 283g – MINUS an ~8 gram piece which he is requesting help in getting it found/located. … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW54tdOXWiE Roach Dry Lake Nevada [Primm] Meteorite Find : Published on Apr 20, 2013 – “Found this 6.3 gram meteorite piece while hunting Roach Dry Lake Bed, near Primm, NV. on 4-13-13.” – “Dolan” Dave’s video response to Paul Gessler’s video of his Primm (H5) meteorite, which Paul reconstructed into a whole stone weighing a total of 242g from fragments that Paul found 15 years ago at Roach Dry Lake. … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8JoD0YAC_8 My other articles can be found *HERE* For for more information, please contact me by email: Bolide*Chaser
Meteorite Times Magazine DaG 978 C3-ung by John Kashuba Dar al Gani 978 resembles CR chondrites in that it has relatively large chondrules which contain blebs of metal. Certain elemental abundances resemble those of CM–CO chondrites and others are similar to the CV–CM–CO range. O-isotope data are similar to CO and CV chondrites. DaG 978 is a type-3 ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite.
Large, irregular chondrule. Metal appears black in this and the next photo. DaG 978 C3-ung. Thin section in incident light.
DaG 978 C3-ung. Thin section in cross-polarized light.
DaG 978 C3-ung. Thin section in cross-polarized light.
This is the same field as the previous picture. The largest chondrule is 1.7 mm in diameter. It has flecks of metal in one of its outer layers and blebs of metal in its interior. DaG 978 C3ung. Thin section in incident light.
DaG 978 C3-ung. Thin section in cross-polarized light.
This is the same field as the previous picture. These two photos depict a large, somewhat irregular chondrule with multiple layers. Some layers are mainly metal. The metal has stained nearby silicates. DaG 978 C3-ung. Thin section in incident light.
In the hand a slice of DaG 978 is distinctive. The fine gray matrix is friable and tends to slough off during slicing leaving the large metal-rich chondrules standing proud of the matrix.
DaG 1040 looks the same as DaG 978. The Meteoritical Bulletin database gives the find location of the 15 pieces of DaG 1040 about 900 feet from that of the single piece of DaG 978. DaG 1040 is classified as CV3. This slice is 55 mm wide.
Meteorite Times Magazine A Wabar Dumbell! by Norm Lehrman “—below me, as I stood on that hill-top transfixed, lay the twin craters, whose black walls stood up gauntly above the encroaching sand like the battlements and bastions of some great castle. These craters were respectively about 100 and 50 yards in diameter, sunken in the middle but half choked with sand, while inside and outside their walls lay what I took to be lava in great circles where it seemed to have flowed out from the fiery furnace.” (H. St John Philby, January 1933. “Rub’ al Khali: An Account of Exploration in the Great Desert of Arabia under the auspices and patronage of His Majesty ‘Abdul ‘Aziz ibn Sa’ud, King of the Hejaz and Nejd and its Dependencies”. The Geographical Journal 81 (1), p. 13.) St. John Philby ventured deep into the hostile Empty Quarter of what is now Saudi Arabia in 1932, in search of the legendary city of “Ubar”. Ubar was essentially the Islamic equivalent of Biblical Sodom & Gomorrah, a city destroyed by fire from heaven for its sins. Circular courtyards with vitrified walls were reportedly strewn with the incinerated pearls of the harem. Irregular masses of iron were all that was left of the former inhabitant’s implements. Philby initially thought he was looking at volcanic features, but it was later understood to be a cluster of meteorite impact craters. A massive iron meteorite totaling some 3500 tonnes fragmented and slammed into the desert sands forming glass- walled craters and a large field of glassy impactites and meteorite fragments. As the desert winds shifted the sands, positive relief circular “walls” emerged and flat floors of sand formed the courtyards. The largest of the fused iron “implements” was recovered in 1966. The 2.2 tonne “Camel’s Hump” meteorite now sits at the entry to the National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. Only a small number of expeditions have ever reached the remote crater site, and recent reports are that the shifting sands have now covered nearly all of the impact features.
Impactite collectors have always coveted the tiny black glass beads known as “pearls of the harem” or more simply, “wabar pearls”, in no small measure for the general romance of the story. But this month’s featured stone is a major rarity in an already elite population: a well-formed little dumbbell! It is 39.8 mm in length (~1.6 inches) and weighs 0.7 gms. It resides —proudly— in the author’s private collection. This may well be one of a kind.
Meteorite Times Magazine Meteorite Calendar – July 2013 by Anne Black Please click on the meteorite calendar to view a larger image.
Meteorite Times Magazine Bassikounou H5 Meteorite by Editor Our Meteorite of the Month is kindly provided by Tucson Meteorites who hosts The Meteorite Picture of the Day.
Contributed by Jeff Kuyken, Bassikounou – H5 124 grams. Submit Pictures to Meteorite Pictures of the Day
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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 Š 2010 James Tobin