Hello List,
This may well be a repeat to most but I am sending this again as it has not
shown up for me as making it to the List after I sent it hours ago. I can see
it in the Archives, and I see that McCartney Taylor has both seen it and
replied to it. Please forgive me if you got it before, or if it shows up
twice. But I wanted to thank all those who have emailed me, and offer the
thoughts of Rubin Allen, etc., and didn't want to take a chance it wouldn't
show up for all. I wanted to try sending it again to see if I get the same
results, or if it would show up more quickly.
*******************************************************************
First, a big thanks to Michael Johnson for offering to post the photo of my
West meteorite with the "markings". I greatly appreciate his help and time.
Second, another thanks to all who have emailed their thoughts and possible
explanations. I appreciate you taking the time to do so, too.
Third, there seems to be a wide range of theories at this point. It obviously
MUST be emphasized that my photo has been the only source for most to base
their opinions on, and a not-so-great photo at that, as it is too "washed out"
( the stone is much darker, much more black in real life, with the markings
more pronounced and "shiny".)
I have the permission from the respected meteorite researcher who performed
the initial classification for this meteorite fall, Alan Rubin, to pass along a
VERY PRELIMINARY supposition to the nature of these markings that he emailed to
me. As stated above, he wants to emphasize that he too has only seen the photo,
not the actual stone with the streaks in person. Here is what his initial
thoughts are:
"When one looks at a fusion crust of an ordinary chondrite in the microscope,
one notices that there are numerous tiny magnetite grains there, formed by
oxidation during atmospheric passage. It looks to me as if these silvery
streaks are just places where the fusion crust has flaked off revealing the
magnetite-rich layer underneath."
Although this explanation is much more "mundane" and not as exciting as some
of the others, it VERY well may be the true explanation. But perhaps it is not,
as Rubin was very quick to tell me in a separate email. Once more, he has not
seen anything but my poor quality photo and can't be expected to make a
definitive statement without first hand observation of the stone, as he himself
wished to emphasize.
Thanks again to all those who have emailed their thoughts.
Sincerely,
Robert Woolard
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