by Robert Verish

Abstracts presented at -
The 34th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC - 2003)

[This article was REVISED on 2009-01-01]

This month's "Bob's Findings" article is about 2 abstracts, one that I wrote and another that I co-authored, and were presented at the 34th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC - 2003) held at League City, Texas.

The 34th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference was held March 17th–21st, this year. All technical sessions, both oral and poster, were held at the South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center, 2500 South Shore Boulevard, League City (near JSC -Houston), Texas.
How to access the abstracts for the - 34th LPSC 2003:

MEETING SCHEDULE Scheduled Program and Abstracts Downloadable Files from Sessions Author Index of Programs Presented

Since I have written three previous articles about "craters" (Panamint Valley and Elko Crater Field),and Glorieta Mountain Micro-meteorite Craters), I suppose you could call this installment of Bob's Findings as "Craters - Part 4".

This article revisits the Elko Crater Field, one more time, and supplies a link to the abstract that was presented at the Conference. The "first author" of this abstract is, John McHone.

"Click"...

HERE! - for latest Elko Crater Field Abstract as presented at the 34th Meeting of LPSC

This article also supplies a link to the abstract that I wrote and was presented at the Conference, which announces the "new classification" for the Dale Dry Lake meteorite.

"Click"...

HERE! - for my "DALE DRY LAKE - NEW CLASSIFICATION, REVISED RECOVERY INFORMATION" Abstract as presented at the 34th Meeting of LPSC

DALE DRY LAKE - NEW CLASSIFICATION, REVISED RECOVERY INFORMATION. 
by R. S. Verish (1), 

(1)Meteorite Recovery Lab, P.O. Box 463084, Escondido, CA 92046.

Introduction: This paper reports on a recent characterization of
the Dale Dry Lake meteorite by researchers at UCLA. This stone is
now classified as an unequilibrated chondrite. This paper proposes
the following revisions to the Catalogue of Meteorites (C.M.) to be
posted in the Meteoritical Bulletin:

Dale Dry Lake, new classification 34° 05'N, 115° 47'W [4]
(Corrected from: 34° 02'N, 115° 54'W )[2]
San Bernardino County, California, USA
Found 1957
Unequilibrated chondrite (L3.7)
(1 stone, 300 grams)

A 0.38g sample from a fragment of this stone in the
ASU Collection (#668.1) was obtained from Carleton Moore, and
has now been characterized by Alan Rubin (UCLA).
Dale Dry Lake: 
class, L3.7; 
shock stage, S3; 
weathering grade, W2;
olivine, Fa15.7±9.2%.

Recovery Information: It should be noted that Dale Dry Lake
(L3.7) was not found on Dale Dry Lake, but at least 8km southwest
of that dry lake, and within the Dale Mining District (*). According
to the Catalogue of Meteorites, it was found "about 2 miles N of the
Virginia Dale Mine", as stated in the referenced paper [5].
Also, the catalogued find location coordinates can't be correct.
If they were, it would place the find location 11km to the southwest
from the described location, and just over the county line into Riverside
County. The coordinates in the C.M. are per those called out in
the referenced document, so that makes the coordinates in the referenced
document (Minerals of California) as being incorrect [5]. The
source for these coordinates comes from the appendix of Meteorites
(1962) by B. Mason [1]. The source for the coordinates in that appendix
is not known. But field notes by H.H. Nininger, predating all
of the above references, are included as attachments in his 1966
letter to Carleton Moore. His interview of the finder, Alice Zimmerman,
confirms the location as "about 2 miles west and N of the
old Virginia Dale Mine" (app. 34° 05.8'N, 115° 47.2'W) [4].
In addition, it should be noted that the Zulu Queen (L3) and Dale
Dry Lake (L3.7) find locations are within 15 km of each other (*).
Zulu Queen: class, L3; shock stage, S3; weathering grade, W?; Fa
15-27 peak@25%. 
These two meteorites are VERY LIKELY paired.

(*) In the above explanation, the distance from the Dale Dry
Lake find location to the actual dry lake, as well as, to the Zulu
Queen (L3) find location, are in reference to that spot as stated in the
finders description, that being "2 miles west and N of the old Virginia
Dale Mine" [4].  

Conclusion: The new characterization of the Dale Dry Lake
meteorite by Alan Rubin (UCLA) should be incorporated in the
Catalogue of Meteorites, and these proposed revisions should be
posted in the Meteoritical Bulletin as " Dale Dry Lake, new classification".
The location coordinates should be revised, as well.

References: 
[1] Mason B. 1962, Meteorites, p229. 
[2] Mason B. 1963, GCA, 27, p1022. 
[3] Butler C. P. (1966) Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, Mineral Information Services, 
	vol.19, no.7 "The Meteoritesof California" p105. 
[4] Nininger H.H. letter (dated 1966) to Carleton Moore. 
[5] Murdoch J. and Webb R. W. (1966) Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, Bulletin 189, 
	"Minerals of California" p232.
[6] Pemberton H. (1983) Minerals of Calif., p57

Thin Section (, 2) Description: Robert Verish
These two sections consist of large (up to 2 mm), well-defined chondrules in a matrix of finer-grained silicates, sulfides and very abundant olivine. Both of these meteorites are little weathered. The meteorites are both L3 chondrite. [These images were taken by me at UCLA in a hasty fashion, and I have since lost my notes as to what scale they were taken - sorry! Nevertheless, on some images a very faint graduated scale can be seen.]

Dale Dry Lake (L3.7) Cross-polarized Light	Zulu Queen (L3) Cross-polarized Light
Dale Dry Lake (L3.7) Cross-polarized Light	Zulu Queen (L3) Cross-polarized Light
Dale Dry Lake (L3.7) Cross-polarized Light	Zulu Queen (L3) Cross-polarized Light
Dale Dry Lake (L3.7) Cross-polarized Light	Zulu Queen (L3) Cross-polarized Light
Dale Dry Lake (L3.7) Cross-polarized Light	Zulu Queen (L3) Cross-polarized Light

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The topic of my next few articles will continue this series on "California Meteorites".

All of my previous articles, going back to year 2002, can be found *HERE*

For for more information, please contact me by email: Bolide*chaser