Meteor-wrongs
Rocks that look like meteorites, but are NOT!
by Robert Verish
Gallery of Meteor-wrongs:
the following images were taken by people who were trying to get their specimens identified.
You can "Click" on the images to get more views of the specimen.
They are all meteor-wrongs.
Man-made Material - - "Slag"
Ferro-silicon
Meteor-wrong - - probably Ferrosilicon alloy, or iron disilicide - - (man-made)
Ferro-manganese
Ferro-alloys
Meteor-wrong - - probably a ferro-manganese alloy - - (man-made)
Meteor-wrong - - probably a ferro-chrome-manganese alloy - - (man-made)
By clicking on the above image you can seem more views of this meteor-wrong.
Slag
Meteor-wrong - - various forms of "slag" - - (man-made)
By clicking on the above image you can seem more views of slag meteor-wrongs.
Meteor-wrong - - probably a variety of "slag" - - (man-made)
Meteor-wrong - - probably another variety of "slag" - - (man-made)
Meteor-wrong - - probably another variety of "slag" - - (man-made)
Sample that was sent to me was relatively copper-rich, but
it was still a man-made material, another type of slag.
Meteor-wrong - - probably another variety of "slag" - - (man-made)
Meteor-wrong - - probably another variety of "slag" - - (man-made)
Iron Oxide - - "iron ore" (hematite/magnetite)
Can't confirm the ID of this rock just by this image.
I would have to see this specimen first-hand, at least,
before ruling-out that it is not a meteorite. Doesn't look man-made.
Looks like it belongs to my Group#2 (iron oxide).
Now, this specimen I did see first-hand.
And it was such a disappointment that it was
"terrestrial" (a mix of various iron oxides) that
the finder just handed it to me and said, "Just take it away."
I did, and my wife still has it in her rock-garden.
The above specimens were donated in the 1950s to the San Bernardino County Museum.
Due to my efforts, they have since been "de-accessioned" from the museum's collection, but
just before that happened, I took images of them for future reference.
IN ORDER TO SEE MORE IMAGES OF THEM, "CLICK" ON THE ABOVE IMAGES.
Artifact Iron - - "man-made iron"
Can't confirm the ID of this metal-ball just by this image.
I would have to see this specimen first-hand, at least, and then analyze the metal
before ruling-out that it is not a meteorite.
Doesn't look natural. Looks like it belongs to my Group#1 (Artifact iron).
Post Script:
To see more meteor-wrongs, GO HERE.
Over the past decade, various people have contacted me asking for help in getting their "meteorite" identified. In recent years, what with meteorites being mentioned more in the media, there isn't a week that goes by that I don't get asked, "How much is my rock worth?". But not one of those rocks was ever a meteorite; it was always a "meteor-wrong". Many of my colleauges had similar results. Websites were made to help people to ID their meteor-wrongs. Whether, or not, these websites have been helpful, still has not been determined.
One day, I was contacted by an associate producer for the Pawn Stars program on the History Channel. They wanted me to appraise some meteorites that viewers were trying to bring onto the show to "pawn". They had a lot of specimens that "finders" wanted to drag into the pawn shop.
Well, guess what? None of them were meteorites. Every one of them was a meteor-wrong. Now, the meteor-wrong plague was a problem that had extended to the entertainment industry.
After the Pawn Stars episode aired where I made my initial appearance as the "meteorite expert", a lot more people started to contact me with their "meteorites". And the deluge of emails and phone calls is still increasing. Just trying to be polite and replying to every one of them is becoming too time-consuming. So, I've decided to do something. I wanted to make a compilation of meteor-wrong images that I could refer to the people that were contacting me. I could then point to this gallery and say to those people, "See, you're not alone. Your specimen is very similar to all of these other rocks that are NOT meteorites."
[Yes, I know this has already been done (and I might add, in very excellent fashion) by Randy Korotev and Ken Newton, but I wanted to make a webpage that was more personal.]
This latest influx of meteor-wrong images made it even more apparent to me that there were many similarities among them. I noticed that most meteor-wrongs can fit into 3 broad categories:
Artifact iron - - (I've broadened this term to include any malleable iron or alloy that isn't an iron meteorite.)
Iron oxide - - (This is a broad grouping that includes hematite and magnetite, as well as any basalt or jasper that attracts a magnet. Personally, I prefer to exclude any "iron shale" that can be proven that it originated from an iron meteorite.)
Slag - - (I've broadened this term to include any material that is man-made, or the residue from a manufacturing process, such as, any ore that is only partially melted.)
Since two out of the three above categories are outside the domain of geological sciences, I now refer people to metallurgists. Not only can they analyse metal, but they have a familiarity with ores and slag.
Meteor-wrong - - a mixture of hematite/magnetite - - (iron oxide)
Meteor-Wrongs - a "Bob's Findings" article in the July 2014 Meteorite-Times Magazine.
Did I find a meteorite? - one of the more informative webpages on the Kentucky Geological Survey -Rocks and Minerals website.
Ferromanganese - one of Ken Newton's "meteorite-identification.com" very informative webpages.
MeteorWrongs - an extensive "photo gallery" of rocks that people thought were meteorites, part of Randy Korotev's very instructional website.
Ferrochromemanganese - this Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory webpage is on the Portland State University website.