[meteorite-list] Next Question

[Jeff Kuyken]

Hi Pete,

Good questions. You'll often find many small 'droplets' or small individuals 
from some of the larger iron falls. I guess they're a little more prevalent 
with recent falls because they are smaller and will oxidise away faster 
relative to larger pieces. A few that come to mind are Sikhote and Taza. And 
a great example of it is the Glorieta Mountain pallasite. There are lots of 
little pieces that have presumably molten and 'flecked off' the larger mass 
some of which even have some olivine attached or enclosed.

And yes... you can find regmaglypts on oriented "nose cones". They're 
probably not as common as other individuals but they do occur. One thing to 
note though is that they are often elongated parallel to the flight path. An 
immediate example that comes to mind that displays this is the famous "Venus 
Stone":

http://www.meteoriteman.com/graphics/venus.jpg

I also have a smaller 277g iron heat shield which has very shallow 
depressions that I guess you would call regmaglypts. I would guess that the 
larger the nose cone specimen the more chance you may have of getting 
regmaglypts.

Cheers,

Jeff


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pete Shugar" <pshugar at clearwire.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 3:50 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Next Question


>I get the idea behind how the thumbprints are formed.
>
> But, what happens to the drops of molten iron?
> Do they just peal away and are vaporized or can
> they make it to the ground? Is this how the sphereoids
> are formed?
>
> Related question
> An oriented meteorite is one that was stable in flight.
> I see flow lines on them from the "nose cone".
> Do thumbprints form on them? I would tend to think that
> that answer is no, because the material flows to the rear
> and either curls, or spaulds off.
> Does the same thing happen to the drops of material as
> in the above?
>
> Last question, but still related.
> Do stoney meteorites get thumbprints as pronounced as
> does the irons? And if not, then why not?
> Pete
>
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