Hi Walter,
Another characteristic I like to look for are shock veins on the exterior
surface. Look for thin, black lines -- sometimes they'll be roughly
parallel to each other while on other meteorites they'll wind like fine
tributaries. Occasionally a vein will widen into a larger, dark melt
pocket. If you see these features, you can be assured that the interior
will show nice shock veining and possibly melt pools.
Except for obvious examples, I find it hard to tell if an unclassified,
uncut specimen has a few or a lot of chondrules. Studying the piece
under a stereomicroscope at 10x will often give tantalizing hints.
Good luck and enjoy sleuthing!
Bob
>You see a lot of ads for uncut NWA's in bulk lots. I have even
purchased a
few of these and I do have fun discovering what may be inside. And I
have
even found some with a good amount of visible chondrules, impact
features
and one that had an image of The Virgin Mary inside :).
But I have been collecting "things" for a LONG time, and I know, at least
in
other hobbies, that bulk items can be cherry picked way before it gets to
you.
Is that the same with uncut bulk lots of meteorites. And if so, how can
you
tell from the exterior what might be in the interior.
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