[meteorite-list] Microcrater Swarms on Canyon Diablo

[Dark Matter]

Hi All,

It seems that the ancient geocities site I posted my pics to has
either crashed or reached its limit.

I posted the pics again in box.net. This should be more reliable.

http://www.box.net/shared/4r1330eocd

http://www.box.net/shared/o6b03dtrdb

http://www.box.net/shared/roec5zuyi2

Best,

Martin




On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 2:42 PM, Dark Matter <freequarks at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Once again, I found myself wandering the Smithsonian meteorite display
> in Washington DC this past weekend. This time, however, I spent less
> time studying the sexy stones and irons, and instead concentrated on
> the more common ones that I usually overlook.
>
> One in particular caught my attention.
>
> On display is a 435kg individual of Canyon Diablo. At first, I started
> on a quest to answer the question about if CD contains thumbprints or
> not. As I was carefully studying the surface, I noticed what I can
> only describe as swarms of micro craters.
>
> I tried to come up with alternate hypotheses such as mechanical
> disassembly like pounding on it with a hammer and chisel, but no go.
> They have the splashforms of craters just like those commonly found on
> Sikhote-Alin individuals. Here's a link to a .pdf article about the
> S-A impact craters:
>
> http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC98/pdf/1839.pdf
>
>
> Linked are some pics of what I'm talking about.
>
> http://www.geocities.com/planetwhy/CD1.JPG
>
> http://www.geocities.com/planetwhy/CD2.JPG
>
> http://www.geocities.com/planetwhy/CD3.JPG
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> -Martin
>