Michael & list, Greetings from Tanzania! Sorry to be so out of touch, but electricity and internet service are both pretty insecure here.
Michael, K-Ar and Ar40/Ar39 techniques are not limited to volcanic rocks. Anything containing potassium (certainly including tektites) can work. There are always interpretative issues, but that's another subject. I spend a fair bit of my field time here working with geochronology where 2.8 billion years is "young" and an error bracket of +/- 40 million years is almost too sloppy to be of use! I'm learning some new stuff. No meteorites so far, and virtually no decent search environments. I found a killer little iron in the middle of a jungle trail a while back, but a quick zap with a Niton portable XRF unit showed no Ni. Just a nice chip off of an iron plow or sledge hammer---. The Niton ray gun is driving me crazy. At virtually no cost, I can pull the trigger and analyze for the entire periodic table heaver than Na in less than 1 minute. This machine should be able to let us non-destructively differentiate iron meteorites, and maybe tektites. Why am I going crazy? ALL my collection is in storage in the USA and I can't test the technology! The unit costs around $35,000 US. Here, now, I have unlimited access to one, and soon, several. Imagine being able to instantly (in relative terms), go though a collection of irons and verify their identity. I've got some in my collection that are potentially with the wrong tag, and I bet every museum in the world fits into that fellowship. What if we can easily zap tektites to confirm/differentiate Ivorites, Bediasites, and Australasians? Authenticate moldavites and reject etched glass? I THINK this tool is in our hands now. I'm coming to the US at Christmas time. Who can offer me a nice wide variety of approx. 1 cm sq slices of irons at a decent price? I could even return them afterwards (subject to the risk of confiscation in customs somewhere---). If this works as I think it could, I'd consider buying a Niton on my return to the USA, and offering verification services. If anyone is able to provide me with a dozen or so little iron chips (for a price of course), please let me know. This could be very cool. Regards to all, Norm http://tektitesource.com , 10/14/08, Michael L Blood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Michael L Blood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Question About Potassium-Argon (K/Ar) dates for > North American and Australasian Tektites > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Meteorite List" <[email protected]> > Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 10:56 AM > Hi Paul & all, > K-A dating is only applicable to volcanic material, > therefore, > It would not be applicable to tektites. > Best wishes, Michael > > on 10/14/08 9:14 AM, Paul at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > Dear Friends, > > > > Can anyone recommend a publication that provides a > > comprehensive listing of Potassium-Argon (K/Ar) dates > > that have been published for the North American and > > Australasian tektites? > > > > Also, what the authorative reference(s) work for > > the bulk composition of tektites from each of these > > strewn fields? > > > > Any citations, which you can recommend would be > > greatly appreciated. > > > > Best Regards, > > > > Paul H. > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________ > > http://www.meteoritecentral.com > > Meteorite-list mailing list > > [email protected] > > > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > Totally Green by Twenty Eighteen! > > Info on Govnt. Spending (BEFORE current "Bail > Out"): > http://www.michaelbloodmeteorites.com/GvntSpending.htm > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________ > http://www.meteoritecentral.com > Meteorite-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ http://www.meteoritecentral.com Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
