[meteorite-list] Carancas meteorite

[Michael Farmer]

I have sent someone to Peru and pieces are enroute to
Tucson. It seems that the crater has been partially
filled in due to heavy rain, and the police have
cordoned off the entire area. The brilliant scientific
minds in Peru want the crater preserved as a tourist
attraction and for later study. The majority of the
meteorite is entombed in the mud under meters of
water, and they want it left that way! 
What is the world coming to, when a mudpit needs to be
preserved, and the rock from space that made it is
rotting away in dirty water? They seem to think that
the mudhole (which after a few more rains will no
longer exist) is the most amazing thing about this
fall, and the meteorite fragments they recovered is
enough, the rest can rot away. 

It is too bad that Peru's first fall will mostly be
lost to the mud and tourists who have carried
everything else off.

Michael Farmer