[meteorite-list] Eltanin

Thu May 21 16:15:34 EDT 2009

I wrote:

"Kyte has classified the only meteorite from the Pacific Ocean, a 2.4 
million year old mesosiderite officially named Eltanin, found 5km below 
sea level in other core samples, which he interprets to be part of the 
largest meteorite fall dropped, ever recovered on Earth. (TKW 1.2 Kg 
mostly in sub centimeter sized weathered fragments)."

Oops, there are two others from under the Pacific's waters discovered 
by Kononkova, Ivanov et. of Vernadsky! But I was really thinking of 
meteorites recovered from older time periods, not weathered out stuff 
picked up from the bottom...

Also it should be noted that the classification of Eltanin is "probably 
mesosiderite", allowing for the possibility that it is not, but 
confirming it is an official meteorite anyway.

Best wishes,
Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: Mexicodoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Thu, 21 May 2009 3:01 pm
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] K-T fossil meteorite picture

Dear Bernd, List, 

Thanks for the interesting post on this curious case. 

So everyone can enjoy this 0.25cm "fossil" "meteorite" which Kyte 
classified as a "CV, CO, or CR carbonaceous chondrite", here is an 
original image in color: 
http://tinyurl.com/qf8u9w 

The "meteorite" is also described as an unclassified hematite and clay 
fragment from the core sample DSDP Hole 576 in the western North 
Pacific (32
º 21.4'N, 164º 16.5'E), 1000 miles WNW of Green Island of 
the Hawaiian Islands and 1400 miles ESE of Tokyo). 

The "meteorite" is not yet an official meteorite, relict or not (if it 
is certain it is a meteorite - unknown to me why not :-)). Kyte's 
office at UCLA has been between his colleagues Wasson and Rubin's and 
he was a co-author with them though the publications appear all prior 
to the "meteorite", so the answer to why not is probably easy to get. 

The extremely high gold concentration in it (which at one point I 
believe it was Koeberl said likely disqualified it as a "meteorite") 
has not been explained other than by speculation: 

http://tinyurl.com/qn3ssc 

Kyte has classified the only meteorite from the Pacific Ocean, a 2.4 
million year old mesosiderite officially named Eltanin, found 5km below 
sea level in other core samples, which he interprets to be part of the 
largest meteorite fall dropped, ever recovered on Earth. (TKW 1.2 Kg 
mostly in sub centimeter sized weathered fragments). 

Here are some very nice thin sections of the alleged relict meteorite 
 from another picture in that original Nature Letter for list members' 
perusal: 
http://tinyurl.com/q4r89e 

Source: Letters to Nature, Frank T. Kyte sent this in originally on 2 
June 1998: 
Kyte, F.T., Nature, "A meteorite from the Cretaceous/Tertiary 
boundary", 19 November 19
98, V. 396, pp. 237-239. 
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6708/full/396237a0.html 

 From what I can gather, most scientists have called the K-T boundary 
fragment "meteorite" Kyte's interpretation. It should be noted that 
Kyte was co-author on several papers with Jan Smit and the two were 
close colleagues during the magical period of the early 1980's after 
Luis Alvarez did the then eye-opening K-T boundary work wit his son and 
collaborators. While the Alvarez' didn't particularly care much for the 
search for the crater, one collaborator, Jan Smit believes he was 
instrumental in the discovery of the Chicxulub crater and vindication 
of Alvarez' Dino extinction theory and fervently defends the work. Smit 
doesn't acknowledge challenger Princeton's Gerta Keller's group's 
interpretations which would suggest anything different on the grounds 
of Occam's Razor, in that a single impact explains everything and any 
mess is because there was turbulence afterwards shaking up everything, 
something that Keller doesn't buy as an argument stopper. Keller 
believes the extinction event is likely more complex, and has ap 
plied her version of chronostratigraphical study in great detail to the 
layers, and supports the possibility of multiple impacts and other 
terrestrial explanations. The latter two have become rivals and both 
(especially Smit) display emotional disdain for the other's work. They 
are both good scientists. What this "meteorite" fragment proves=2
0is 
questionable in relation to the debate. Kyte also classifies a 3.8 
billion year old impact on earth as a CV by looking at the chromium 
content of ancient sediments. 

Best wishes, 
Doug 

-----Original Message----- 
From: bernd.pauli at paulinet.de 
To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com 
Sent: Thu, 21 May 2009 6:23 am 
Subject: [meteorite-list] K-T fossil meteorite picture 

Hello Sterling, List, and KT-Extinctionists, 

"It's a "fossilized" meteorite, meaning it's seriously been altered 
by the terrestrial environment, with replaced minerals and all 
the rest. It was found some years ago. I've seen a photo of it, 
but can't find that website today, but it is an encapsulated clast 
that can only be identified as carbonaceous by the simple fact 
that it's so rich in carbon." 

You can find color pics of this fossilized, terrestrialized piece plus 
some info in an article in the January 2000 issue of the National 
Geographic in the department "Geographica" and there's another 
article + color photo here: 

Sky & Telescope, March 1999, 
p. 22: Piece of a Killer Asteroid ? 

The pictu 
re description says: 

"This 2.5-millimeter-wide fossil meteorite, embedded in the light brown 
clay 
 from the Pacific sea floor, may be the first known sample of the object 
that 
struck the20Earth 65 million years ago, driving many species to 
extinction. 
Courtesy Frank T. Kyte." 

I am going to send the pics to your personal email address! 

Best from Germany, 
Fathers' Day here :-) 

Bernd 

To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com 
Cc: sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net 

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