Hi
Michael Daniels, who discovered the London Clay tektites has recently emailed
me a little more information, which I'd like to pass on:
When it comes to your correspondent's doubts, which they are fully entitled
to submit,
particularly suspicions raised about the possibility of contaminates, origins
connected
with fly-ash and power stations, volcanics, yes, they are all familiar
observations con-
cerning the particles.
And, as before, I just make the suggestion that for those more doubtful, they
come down
here and I will gladly conduct them to the Naze when I shall be more than
appreciative to
hear their explanations as to where I may have, in my enthusiasm, become a
little
adventurous in my concept and having unquestioning belief in the antiquity of
the little
glassy objects. That might be for me an acid test, but actually I think when
they have
better appreciation of the conditions prevailing at this lower London Clay
locality, I think I
can win over a few potential critics.
Just to deal with a couple of questions raised by those who have written.
I have today once more checked the particles and none show any magnetic
properties.
Some do have voids and there is a little evidence of impurities, but if that
is confirmed
then just might be tiny specs of dirt or plant debris.
As for their pristine state, no sign of them suffering any ablation. Many of
the fossil bird
bones that I have collected from the Walton site are in such a remarkable
condition
that I have had to be careful when comparing them with modern avian elements,
so
perfect are they that confusion over which is which could arise. This is
because once
the relics came to rest on the sea bed and were fast covered with sediment,
there they
remained down 55 (not 35!) million years until they were caused to emerge
when I dug
up the pocket, composed mainly of plant material, in which they were lodged
and so
reveal them once more to the light of day!
The tektites have a high Ca content and this factor through those who expect
them to
show substantial silica in their make up. But the people that found
difficulty with such
a composition, in my view, simply had an inability in grasp that some things
in heaven
and earth are literally beyond the powers of human understanding.
Have a pleasant weekend
Sincerely
Michael
Thanks for all the feedback, Aubrey (out of contact for a bit in the Middle
East, so apologies if I don't reply)
www.tektites.co.uk
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for
your freeaccount today.______________________________________________
Meteorite-list mailing list
[email protected]
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
