I would advocate that we on the list clarify the use of the term 'Martian meteorite' or 'lunar meteorite' as those bits of Mars or the moon transported here to Earth descending through our atmosphere as we've been using these terms all along. This is as versus 'Mars meteorite' or 'Moon meteorite' as those specimens found on Mars or the Moon. Any one know an already established convention??? Otherwise, the semantics gets muddled...
Joseph Honolulu ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Grossman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:28 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Appropriate terminology? > Alan Rubin and I advocated calling all of these things "meteorites" no > matter what body they were found on. Our definition was as follows, quoting > from the article: > > "A meteorite is a natural solid object that was transported by natural > means from the body on which it formed to a region outside the dominant > gravitational influence of that body and was later accreted by a natural > body larger than itself." > > Our exception to this rule is: "Meteorites accreting to a body lose their > status as individual meteorites if the rocks into which they are > incorporated subsequently become meteorites themselves." > > This means that a CM clast in an H chondrite that fell in Africa is not > itself a meteorite... only the H chondrite is. Hadley Rille and Bench > Crater ARE meteorites; however, had they been found as clasts in lunar > meteorites, they would not be meteorites, and would not be given their own > names by the nomenclature committee. Everybody follow this? I thought not. > > All of these statements are the opinion of just Alan and myself. There are > no widely accepted definitions of "meteorite." But since nobody else has > ever tried to define the word like we did, I guess we get the last word for > now. > > -jeff > > At 02:05 PM 1/15/2003, you wrote: > >Hi Tracy, > > > > > What would be the correct thing to call an impactor like Hadley Rille or > > > Bench Crater? I gather that 'meteorite' refers only to things that impact > > > Earth; how about things that hit other planets? > > > >On this list I've seen the words "lunaite" and "lunarite". I've always > >assumed the former refers to a piece of the Moon found on earth (lunar > >meteorite), and the latter refers to a piece of an asteroid found on > >the Moon (e.g. Hadley Rille). I guess it's a little confusing given > >that the two words only differ by one letter. > > > >--Rob > > > >______________________________________________ > >Meteorite-list mailing list > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman > Chair, Meteorite Nomenclature Committee (Meteoritical Society) > US Geological Survey > 954 National Center > Reston, VA 20192, USA > Phone: (703) 648-6184 fax: (703) 648-6383 > > > > ______________________________________________ > Meteorite-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
