[meteorite-list] Meteorite Substitution - Been There...

[Treiman, Allan]

   At least once, the fall site of a meteorite has been 
mis-stated. This was in 1992, when Ron Farrell presented
a large ureilite for naming, saying that it was found 
in the strewn field of the Nuevo Mercurio chondrite. The 
NomCom questioned whether the ureilite might be from the 
Nullarbor. I analyzed the sand and soil on the ureilite, 
and compared it to sand and soil on a real Nuevo Mercurio, 
and on several real Nullarbor stones. The soil on the ureilite
was completely different from Nuevo Mercurio, but nearly 
identical to the Nullarbor samples. 
   Faced with this uncertainty about its source, the NomCom 
named the ureilite Nova 001. Jack Berkley and I wrote a 
paper describing the rock, and showing that it was identical 
to the ureilite Nullarbor 010. Ron Farrell said that he had
not exported Nova 001 from Australia illegally, and blamed 
David New. As far as I know, the matter dropped there.

   So, it is probably possible to find out where a weathered 
meteorite fell, at least very broadly. But its a lot of work,
and I doubt anyone would bother for a chondrite. 

  Cheers!

   Allan


Allan H. Treiman
Senior Staff Scientist
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston, TX 77058-1113
   281-486-2117
   281-486-2162 (FAX)


-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com]On Behalf Of Darren
Garrison
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 8:20 PM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Substitution- What if...


On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 18:23:24 -0700, you wrote:

>Dear Darren;
>Yup, that's a real good point there on the wallet comment. My Rock 
>Springs is not for sale but if it was, it would be only at $50 a 
>gram....due to only a very limited amount.  
>So, how many L-6's from NWA go for  nothing?    
>Yes, ONLY the wallets of those who want from specific locations.....
>It would really be a mess if crooked meteorite people became active...

Yes, despite being a beginning collector, I feel that just about ALL of the value of meteorites is
in what science can learn about the early history of the solar system (and it's immediate
neighborhood) from them.  Collecting them is just an incentive to get those wiley Moroccans out in
the sand looking for meteorites that would not have been found if it were only shallow-pocketed
astronomers out doing research.  So, to me, the "value" of a meteorite isn't in WHERE it fell or HOW
MUCH of it fell, but what story a professional study of the meteorite can tell about the evolution
of the universe.  Wherther it fell in Utah or Uganda is just a matter of a tiny difference in it's
orbit, and has almost no impact on what can be learned from it.  So I would concider inaccurate find
locations for a real meteorite to be of very small concern for the true value of discovering
meteorites-- the science. 

Being able to own a chunck of one is just the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
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