[meteorite-list] A question????? another answer

[Rob McCafferty]

This is a recurrent theme, one I am interested in myself and when I first joined this list I heard a lot of really good stuff but never saved the mails.

Earth vs lunar is quite easy to nail down. The geology of lunar meteorites tend to be rather similar despite different physical appearances. There are only 4 major minerals in lunar meteorites (which is fewer even than Holland's geology!!!!). Oh, and they're all anhydrous. So many terrestrial minerals can only be formed in the presence of water and this leads to a greater diversity of rocks here despite being isotopically matched to the moon.

Everything else you pointed out seems to be hitting the nail right on the head. I've heard reports (from previous postings to this list) that suggest meteorites have been found that have been discarded because they were terrestrial.
Somebody else with more experience and knowledge may want to clarify this, but wasn't Ninninger one of the people who thew out a load of meteorites because they were terrestrial and at least one other person collected stuff but never formally had them studied because he feared being ridiculed for saying his rocks were meteorites when he knew darn well the rocks were of terrestrial origin. They had clear fusion crusts and everything else.

Most likely, many terrestrial meteorites would be discarded for these reasons. Once a fusion crust is gone, they'd simply be unrecognised.

What it really needs is for an observed fall to be confirmed as terrestrial. Chances of that are pretty low, though. As yet, there is no observed Lunar fall and only a few martians.

Rob

--- On Fri, 6/5/09, cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson at cox.net> wrote:

> From: cdtucson at cox.net <cdtucson at cox.net>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A question????? another answer
> To: "Mr EMan" <mstreman53 at yahoo.com>, "meteoritelist" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Date: Friday, June 5, 2009, 9:56 PM
> Elton, 
> There you go again providing the perfect answers. Thank
> you. 
> I have a few follow-up questions for you;
> If an Earth meteorite (terrene) were to return back to
> Earth, would we be able to identify it correctly? That is to
> say would we not simply ASSume it came from the moon? As a
> moon meteorite would also have Earth air or isotopes? We
> make new supposed Lunar meteorite discoveries with new
> materials all the time. So again I ask is there a way to be
> certain where it came from? I ask because if is not mostly
> plagioclase, it seems to me most investigators would simply
> toss it aside and say; it is not a meteorite, that is a rind
> or weathered Earth rock not fusion crust. So, another
> question would be this; if it clearly has a fusion crust
> complete with the gas bubbles would there be a way to prove
> it is in fact a genuine fusion crust??? Thanks 
> Carl Esparza
> IMCA 5829
> 
> 
> ---- Mr EMan <mstreman53 at yahoo.com>
> wrote: 
> > 
> > Pete sometime let me tell you about the First Church
> of the Navelites.. but to your question
> > 
> > They would be called meteorites until identified as
> originating from the Earth--then the debate is opened up
> again.
> > 
> > Recently someone at NASA or in the IAU stated the new
> definition of meteorite includes any rocky object falling
> onto the surface of any planet should be regarded as a
> meteorite (my translation)
> > 
> > I recently read a calculation of the number of Earth
> originating rocks gone to meteorites on the moon and on Mars
> and it was a fairly high number within the realistic realm
> of being identified as such.
> > 
> > A further subset of missing nomenclature is what to
> call returning non tektite ejecta that may have orbited a
> while and get returned much later.  The Reis impactor
> is a candidate for having been able to eject rocks into
> orbit.  As I've mentioned it before, it hurled some
> multi-ton limestone boulders over 60 miles up a mountain
> side in Austria.
> > 
> > A meteorite could not eject material into space from
> earth but an asteroid sized impactor most certainly has in
> the past.  That is the physics don't prohibit it.
> > 
> > Elton
> > --- On Fri, 6/5/09, Pete Shugar at clearwire.net
> <pshugar at clearwire.net>
> wrote:
> > 
> > > From: Pete Shugar at clearwire.net
> <pshugar at clearwire.net>
> > > Subject: [meteorite-list] A question?????
> > > To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> > > Date: Friday, June 5, 2009, 12:02 AM
> > > We have the Martian type meteorite,
> > > and we have the
> > > Lunar meteorite and last, the asteroid 4Vesta
> meteorite.
> > > These we know where they come from.
> > > 
> > > Now the question---given enough energy, can a
> meteorite
> > > hit earth and eject debris which (maybe) land on
> the moon
> > > or Mars? What would we call such a
> meteorite---Earthoid,
> > > or maybe Earthite?
> > > Just contemplating my navel here.
> > > Pete
> > > 
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