Re: [meteorite-list] YOU GOT YOUR CHOCOLATE IN MY PEANUT BUTTER! portales q

[Frank Cressy]

Hi Harlan,   Interesting question. I think that it is believed that PV was formed by a large impact(s) on an asteroid which melted and mixed the original material. Four possible scenerios readily come to my mind that might explain the mixture of low density stone and high density metal we see in Portales Valley together with the indication of slow cooling shown by the Widmanstratten pattern.  1). There might have been differentiation in the melt and what we are seeing is a transitional  zone between the metal and the stoney sections, or 2). The original melt might have had a low viscosity which did not allow easy differentiation, or 3). Low gravity on the asteroid didn't allow differentiation, or 4). Molten metal injected into the stoney material because of an impact caused the brecciation. There wasn't a large enough melt area for any differentiation to occur.   These are the three main reasons I can think of; the real reason is probable some combination of all three. We need to also remember that we are only able to see a small portion of what was a large event. Regards, Frank ----- Original Message ----- From: harlan trammell To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 11:54 AM Subject: [meteorite-list] YOU GOT YOUR CHOCOLATE IN MY PEANUT BUTTER! portales q more q's on the strangest piece of skyrock to ever hit the planet: about the metal first: it is obvious that it took some time for it to cool  because there is a nice crystal pattern it in. during the molten time, why didn't the stone chunx float out to the surface and cause a differentiated asteroid, w/ the rock on the surface, to form. is molten iron so less dense in that state that the stone could have perhaps been neutrally buoyant thus causing this consistant mix of rock and metal like chocolate in peanut butter? even if there is no gravity around , there is always buoyancy due to differences in densities. any comments..... Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. Click Here ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list