An Article In Meteorite-Times Magazine
by Robert Verish
An Article In Meteorite-Times Magazine
by Robert Verish
April 1998
Looking Back 10 Years Ago
It's interesting how certain things can jar your memory. Like when a recent event reminds us of something that we have long forgotton.
Well, something like that happened to me recently. It was while reading about the Franconia Area H-metal meteorites (a.k.a., Sacramento Wash 005) when I remembered about some small iron "beads" that I had found back when I was first metal-detecting the Gold Basin area.
But, just in case you are not familiar with the term "Franconia Area H-metal", this is the name that has been used to describe the numerous, small iron meteorites that have been found both north and south of the Sacramento Wash, near Yucca, Arizona. Two of the larger specimens of these "irons" were submitted by Larry Sloan and Jim Smaller to the University of Arizona for classification. They were classified as "H-metal" and were assigned the now formally-approved name, "Sacramento Wash 005". It is the general consensus among the finders of these small irons, that they were formed by spalling off of a fragmenting Franconia Area meteorite, AS IT FELL. Most likely it was during the fall of the Franconia (H5) meteorite, but this has not been conclusively proven.
While trying to form a mental image of an incandescent H-chondrite meteor vaporizing in the upper atmosphere, and trying to figure out what forces were at work that would melt or rip apart metal veins into little iron fragments, my memory was jarred with the recollection of having found these odd iron beads at Gold Basin, Arizona. But, they're not really "beads", meaning that they didn't have a hole drilled through them. But they were bead-shaped. To be specific, they were oblate spheroids, meaning that they were flattened spheres. Not that they were all the exact same size and shape, as if a handful of ball-bearings were thrown out onto the desert surface, but as if molten droplets of iron were allowed to cool and solidify while still spinning, thus forming flattened spheres. In order to form this way the molten droplets would have to be suspended in air, or drop through the air a sufficient distance and time until they became solid. Because, unlike the lead musket balls that were produced during the 19th century-era "shot towers" (in which molten droplets of lead were dropped from the top of a tower and solidified before they hit a vat of water), these iron balls show a little deformation by having come in contact with the ground.
In any case, take a look at the images below.
I looked hard for the original pictures that I took of these little iron balls, but all that I could find remaining was just one image. That image was my attempt at trying to show the etch-pattern that I had made on the flat surface that I had ground-down and polished on one of the iron beads. The etch that was produced on this flat surface had a very fine, dendritic pattern. It was so fine that it required a low-power microscope for examination. I took several images through the eye-piece of the microscpe, but they are of poor quality (this was back in April of 1998). For the reader's convenience, I've taken a more recent image (April 2008) and it can be viewed HERE.
While searching my files for these images, I noticed that they were "created" way back in April of 1998 - exactly ten years ago!
>BR>
I started searching for other images and documents that were "created" or "modified" at that time period.
It was interesting what I found. It was like taking a trip back in time. It brought back a flood of memories.
It reminded me of the early days of the Meteorite-List, where I would speak of myself as a "newbie" and would ask all of the typical newbie questions. I was already searching for meteorites, but I was still learning how to identify meteorites. This was back at a time when I coupled the writing of my field trips with my other new hobby, writing web pages. Looking at my files and images from 10 years ago, it appears that around March and April of 1998 I was very active at making web pages describing my search for my first meteorite find at Gold Basin.
The following images are 10 years old, which explains why they are low resolution, but they depict the kinds of topics that we were interested in at that time:
Above image taken by R. Verish, Mar-Apr 1998.
Back to Top of PageAbove image taken by R. Verish, Mar-Apr 1998.
Back to Top of Page
Above image taken (recently) by author, R. Verish (April 2008).
Back to Top of Page
Above image taken (recently) by author, R. Verish (April 2008).
Back to Top of Page
Below - Gold Basin iron artifacts(?):
a view of all of the iron balls!
Above image taken (recently) by author, R. Verish (April 2008).
Back to Top of Page
Above image taken (recently) by author, R. Verish (April 2008).
Back to Top of Page
Below - Vaca Muerta:
a classic example of a mesosiderite - it's metal portion can produce an ETCH! -
This microscopic etch shouldn't be called a Widmanstatten pattern, but it is evidence that the metal is an alloy of iron and nickel. The etch pattern is evidence that the molten alloy had time enough for the Fe and Ni to start to segregate as it solidified. The shorter the time that the metal solidifies, the finer the pattern. In the case of my Gold Basin iron balls, that molten alloy was essentially quenched, producing a very fine, dendritic pattern.
CLICK on the image below in order to see close-up images of the etch-pattern.
Vaca Muerta - image taken by R. Verish, Mar-Apr 1998.
Back to Top of Page
Canyon Diablo slab - above image taken by R. Verish, Mar-Apr 1998.
Back to Top of Page
Ibitira - above image taken by R. Verish, Mar-Apr 1998.
Back to Top of Page
Mt. Tazerzait - above image taken by R. Verish, Mar-Apr 1998.
Back to Top of Page
Below - Mt. Tazerzait:
This meteorite is so intriguing I purchased a slice back in 1998!
Mt. Tazerzait - above image taken by author April 2008
Back to Top of Page
Set of Tektites - above image taken by author in April 2008
Back to Top of Page
Hopefully, you find my reminiscing of the "good ol' days" to be of some interest. Maybe this will give the reader an opportunity to pause and remember events from a decade ago, as well, and consider how we all arrived here at the present. At least, it gives us some idea of where we were, and what we were doing 10 years ago.
REFERENCES:
For for more information, please contact me by email: Bolide*chaser
