[meteorite-list] Carancas in the news

[Darren Garrison]

Messages aren't going through the list, so I'm sending this to you directly.


http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/25/701427.aspx

Meteorites spark mysteries Posted: Monday, February 25, 2008 8:20 PM by Alan
Boyle

Five months after a meteorite made an international splash in Peru, experts are
suggesting explanations for some of the space rock's effects - for example, the
sickening odor villagers smelled at the crash site, and the bubbles that were
seen emanating from the water-filled crater left behind. But a study due to be
presented next month also raises fundamental questions about the event. In fact,
an international research team declares that the impact "should not have
happened" at all.

Yet another study sets forth a mystery surrounding two other meteorites found in
Antarctica a couple of years ago. The rocks don't match any other class of
meteorite - so where did they come from?

The two studies are among hundreds submitted for the annual Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference, scheduled March 10-14 in League City, Texas. The conference
offers the cream of the crop in planetary science - focusing on topics ranging
from the solar wind, to Mercury and Mars, to the icy dwarfs on the solar
system's edge.

The Peruvian meteorite impact comes in for a fresh round of scientific scrutiny
in a study submitted by researchers from Brown University and institutes in Peru
and Uruguay. Just after the impact was reported, some scientists doubted whether
a meteorite was actually responsible for the crater - but subsequent analysis
proved that a stony space rock was involved (as opposed to a denser iron
meteorite).

Scientists previously thought that stony meteorites on the scale of the one that
hit Peru would break apart into little pieces before they hit the ground. The
fact that this one survived to create a 40-foot-wide crater threw the
researchers what they called a "hypervelocity curveball." They said the standard
model used to estimate the effects of stony meteorites will need to be revised
as a result.

The study does propose two possible explanations for the reports of "boiling
water" seen within the crater: The bubbles could have come from the compressed
air that surrounded the meteorite as it blasted into the wet earth - or it could
have been caused by clumps of clay that dissolved and frothed as they fell into
the crater.

"These two processes may have been responsible for local reports of water
bubbling up from the floor soon after impact," the researchers wrote. "While
there would have been heat generated at impact, it is unlikely that this could
have sustained bubbling an hour later."

Meteorite hunter Michael Farmer, who visited the site last year soon after the
impact, has said the sickening odor that villagers said emanated from the crater
was most likely caused by sulfurous compounds such as triolite interacting with
the ground water - and there's nothing in the latest study that contradicts that
suggestion.

The Peruvian meteorite may be in for another shot at fame: Just last week,
Living in Peru reported that Japanese investors are interested in building a
space museum near the impact site, and that National Geographic is planning a
documentary about the meteorite.

Now to the other space-rock study: Meteorite hunters from the Lunar and
Planetary Institute and NASA's Johnson Space Center reported finding a pair of
specimens in 2006 in Antarctica's Graves Nunataks area.

"These meteorites are not obviously like any other meteorites, so their origin
is unclear," the Lunar and Planetary Institute said in its media advisory. "The
mineralogy and chemical composition of these meteorites are so unusual that
scientists have been struggling to find the right term to describe them.
Numerous parent bodies have been proposed. Could they have come from the moon?
From Venus? Scientists are currently debating these issues."

The researchers behind the study say they're not finished with their analysis of
the rocks, and more findings may emerge at next month's conference. So stay
tuned as the meteorite tales and other mysteries are fully brought to light.