Hi List, First of all, "Hi", to everyone on the list new and old, and I don't mean age wise! :-)
I'll get to my question in a minute, but I wanted to make an observation first. I've been on and off of the list for 3 or 4 years, but lately (last year or so) mostly a lurker. Back in the earlier days there were some on this list more interested in stirring up the "mix" so-to-speak than carry on any meaningful dialogue, transfer of knowledge, or just plain enrich the passion of others on the list that really wanted to "talk" meteorites! After a few unpleasant run-ins and realizing that it appeared the list was really nothing much more than an on-line market for dealers and collectors wishing to trade/sell meteorites, and most of the remaining threads involved the aforementioned malarkey, I just kind of slipped into the background and hung around waiting for that relatively rare and interesting tidbit of info actually concerning meteorites! There were a handful of regular contributors, and experts that came through back then just as they still do today, and I think most of you know the individuals I'm referring to! The reason for the above statement is to my great pleasure and enjoyment, this list has changed for the better and is getting better all of the time. I think there were many members, in fact I know there were some members for they emailed me privately with the same concerns, whom would not join in out of fear of being ridiculed and harassed. Well, it seems as if it is all water under the bridge now! Now to my question... I recently purchased a beautifully prepared part slice of Dhofar 010 which is an H6 impact melt breccia. It shows a very dark black melt (the matrix material) surrounding the lighter brown unmelted clasts sparkling with tiny bits of metal. I've had it now for almost a month. The past week, week and a half, I noticed that it has dark, brown, greenish looking droplets of moisture oozing out on the back unpolished side and a couple of droplets on the front highly polished side. Right away I thought Lawrencite and Nantans not to mention a couple of other irons and Pallasites, but this is an ordinary chondrite (H6) and I just haven't heard of this problem with chondrites. If they [chondrites] can have the "disease" as well as irons then I'm just ignorant of it! Even under just a 10x magnifier, it looks like the "cancer" of irons as, I think, Richard Norton put it. I have or had many different types of chondrites, and many of course, are or were ordinary ones from LL's to H's an 3's to 6's, but I never saw this before -- I haven't read or heard anyone else speak of this either! When I wipe the moisture off, it will have returned again within the next day or two. Another interesting fact is that the oozing appears to be coming from the melt (matrix) surrounding the clasts (breccia) on the back side and not from any of the clasts themselves that I can tell. Of course, I could be very wrong for I'm by no means an expert -- just learning all the time. The polished front side seems to really have only one area and it is a tiny clast, but this clast has a couple of small holes or pores -- therefore, I suspect it's just bleed through from the back side where the melt happens to line up from behind that particular clast! Believe it or not, in the past with a couple of Nantans that after cutting started oozing very badly, I'd soak them for days, weeks, and even months in anhydrous isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol). When the solution began looking brown or somewhat less than perfectly clear (to my subjective eye) I would exchange it for pure alcohol again. I would do this probably 2,3, or 4 times depending on the tenacity of the iron involved -- maybe more. This stuff I use is 99.995% water free and it WILL dry out whatever you have in mind -- including your fingers! ;-) But the point is, after whatever period of time it took and the particular Nantan piece involved, I eventually got the blasted thing to stop oozing. One I'm soaking right now has been in solution for nearly one year. I take it out occasionally and just let it sit for several days to see if it begins oozing again, so far, so good! My next step will be to let it sit in the display case for several weeks and keep an eye on it. If all goes well I may or may not clearcoat it. I said all of that just to point out nothing, I guess really, with my question at hand other than if nothing else the alcohol bath should do the same trick if it is Lawrencite or something related. Like I said though, I'm far from any expert with preparing, conditioning, and maintaining irons or any meteorite (or rock) for that matter, but I try a little, learn a little, read a little, and learn a little more! SORRY for the lengthy email, but I'm just curious, concerned, and ready to learn more from this distinguished and informed list of members! Anybody have any answers, similar occurrences, or whatever? Regards, Mal ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
