I agree with everything you stated with the exception of response 2 where
you state private citizens can profit from meteorite finds here in the
United States. It is against federal and most state laws to use meteorites
found on public land for commercial purposes meaning that the finder is not
allowed to sell anything they find. Private citizen are prohibited from
making a profit without a permit which will never be issued.
2) If private citizens were prohibited from profiting from the recovery of
meteorites,
would you expect a negative impact on the quantity of recovered material
from a
new fall? I think this is undeniable, and therefore it certainly follows
that the total
mass deposited with accredited institutions would suffer. And it's not just
the
quantity, it's the quality. A meteorite recovered within 24 hours of a fall
is obviously
more scientifically valuable than one recovered a month later, when
terrestrial
weathering has altered some rare minerals, and short-lived radioisotopes
have
decayed below the threshold of detectability.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matson, Rob D. via Meteorite-list"
<meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
To: <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 12:12 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Case study: Lake Eyre meteorite vs. U.S.
Hi Ian,
Since you brought up the Creston fall, presumably as a comparison example
against
current Australian state policies, I feel some counter-commentary is
appropriate.
Creston is a example of where things went a bit pair shaped in my mind for
science.
In my opinion, Creston was really no stranger than Sutter's Mill, Novato,
Battle Mountain,
Mifflin or Ash Creek. Science has been well served by all of these falls.
USA had a private network of cameras setup that captured the fireball, a
private individual
and some others extracted that meteorite, the first piece(s) was then on
sold. Finally it
was sold for a ridiculous price. Not illegal or immoral......just not
ideal
I think what you are getting at is that only a small fraction of each of
these falls made
it into the hands of researchers. There are a couple points to consider:
(1) How much material do researchers really need to extract the majority of
pertinent
scientific data from a fall? Sure, if you had infinite time you'd love to
have all of it since
the individual meteorites from a fall are not necessarily homogenous. (Case
in point:
Almahata Sitta). But balanced against this is the question of how much more
you're
going to learn by analyzing all of the stones from an L6 fall.
(2) If private citizens were prohibited from profiting from the recovery of
meteorites,
would you expect a negative impact on the quantity of recovered material
from a
new fall? I think this is undeniable, and therefore it certainly follows
that the total
mass deposited with accredited institutions would suffer. And it's not just
the
quantity, it's the quality. A meteorite recovered within 24 hours of a fall
is obviously
more scientifically valuable than one recovered a month later, when
terrestrial
weathering has altered some rare minerals, and short-lived radioisotopes
have
decayed below the threshold of detectability.
(3) Successful meteorite recovery requires a significant skill set AND
considerable
expenditures of time and money. In the U.S., I expect that more than 95% of
the
annual resources made available through government grants to recover
meteorites
goes to ANSMET. I've spent thousands of unpaid hours on the analysis of
nearly
all U.S. falls that have occurred in the last 15 years, as well as a number
of falls
outside America, and have devoted a not insignificant amount of time and
money
traveling to many of these places to recover meteorites. On each of these
expeditions I tend to encounter the same couple dozen of dedicated
individuals --
names that would all be familiar to anyone on the Meteorite List. On
occasion I have
seen other scientists "in the field," but I suspect in most cases it was on
their
own dime and not in an official paid capacity. Meteoriticists are paid to
analyze
meteorites, not run around the country recovering them.
Now in Australia, we do have an likely issue of finds being hidden ( old
falls and
cold finds) due to our state laws. However this material will just add to
the 50,000
stones we need to know more about. Where these laws are a benefit is that
when
our DFN etc detects a fall, scientists (not private hunters looking for
profit or cost
recovery) will go out grab the stone and bring it back!
Perhaps in Australia this happens. I have not seen evidence that this is the
case
in the U.S. Researchers have access to the same information that I do:
Doppler
radar, seismic networks, all-sky cameras, internet posts, the AMS website
and
a dozen other resources. Nothing other than time and funding is stopping
them
from competing with private citizens.
We will know where it came from, where it landed, who found it, what it is
and
where it will stay exactly. With much more than just a classification but,
rare orbit
data - which is contributing greatly to mapping our solar system and more!
Well, we got all of that on both Sutter's Mill and Creston, in spite of the
problems
of private land ownership and considerably harder searching conditions than
the
almost ideal surfaces of the Australian outback. So both systems can work. I
just
think the current U.S. laws favor a higher success rate than in Australia
because
they (at least currently) provide enough incentive to boost the people-hours
that get devoted to each fall.
Best wishes,
Rob
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