I tried to respond with a bilingual message in Italian / English, but I guess the list spit it back at me without posting, for whatever reason.
In any case, Matteo's question was actually a quite valid observation. While I have no meteorite collection, I have visited Orissa, and in particular remember the train ride to the coastal area where the meteorite apparently fell. It is laced with mangroves (trees from brackish wetlands (some salt intrusion) water and it turns out after a quick web search even more frightening. That is because the cyclone that hit totally devastated the zone infrastructure. And wouldn't you guess: the coastal district where the cyclone hit, and the meteorite fell, has a national disaster because its noteable network of irrigation canals have been totally breached (and have completely overflowed onto the lands) by salt water intrusion. So there is now a hunger crisis, agricultural crisis, transportation crisis, and meteor deteoration crisis:) Add that to the fact that the meteorites recovered may even have been washed and scrubbed again to remove the mud in saline tending water by finders, and the problem is compounded.
Here is what the local press have to say about the salinity problems (The Meteorite apparently fell in the Kendrapara district):
Irrigation canals have been breached. The government claims they have been repaired. However, Abdullah Hannan Khan, a marginal peasant in Mahajanpur, a village near Cuttack, told Frontline that the water in the canal reached his field too late and there was too little of it to meet the needs of his paddy crop. He expected that about half of his crop, due to be harvested in a few days, will be damaged. In some parts of the State, as in Kendrapara district, the soil has become saline because of mas sive inundation of sea water during the cyclone and floods. Here, well irrigation is not a viable option because of the salinity, explained villagers of Rajnagar block in the district. They complained that villages at the tail-end of the canal systems su ffered because the canals were not repaired early enough.
At Oklipol village in Kendrapara district. As a consequence of inundation caused by cyclone and floods, soil salinity has increased in this area, which is at the tail-end of a canal system.
Take a look for yourselves at the article from Hindu Times:
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1711/17110660.htm
And if you want to see maps of the State and the Kendrapara district (look at that river delta!), here are some links:
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/orissa/orissa-travel-map.htm
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/orissa/districts/dist10.htm
Hi Elton,� Thanks for giving me the big hand in my meteor-maybes.� You really are an excellent asset to us aspirng "newbees" on this list.� I saw your reply to Matteo and just wanted to assure you it was a translation failure, since in Italian "because" and "why" look like each other, as in Tell me why! (Tell me the reason; the "because").� I believe there is a good linguistics list somewhere that has more info :)
Therefore:� "So Only why its full of metal and have rain after the fall or other?"�
What Matteo meant was:� "Then, Is the reason only because it is loaded with metal and it rained after the fall, or {Is it} something else?
Perhaps the Orissans washed the recovered samples he is seeing, soaked them etc., to remove the mud, compounding the problem.
Saludos,� Doug Dawn
M�xico
En un mensaje con fecha 12/10/2003 8:16:10 AM Mexico Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] escribe:
Asunto: [meteorite-list] Question Orissa
Fecha: 12/10/2003 8:16:10 AM Mexico Standard Time
De: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Enviado por Internet
Hello
Why Orissa, a fresh fall, have sign of rusty in few
time? Only why its full of metal and have rain after
the fall or other?
regards
Matteo
