Bob's Bulletin - Vol. 4 No. 2
A newsletter for unclassified meteorites found in the USA.
Recently there have been some promising developments in regards to finding a solution to the problem of Ordinary Chondrite (OC) finds going unreported, and undocumented, and unclassified. In short, they end up “lost to history”. (Clarification: for the purpose of this discussion, it is limited to only OCs found here in the United States. For some reason, this kind of problem doesn’t exist in other countries.)
Here is the good news that I would like to share with you. A well-respected institution (one that the Meteoritical Society has approved for curation of meteorite type-specimens) has given tacit approval to “adopt” the “orphaned” meteorites depicted here in Bob’s Bulletin. Understand, when I use the word “adopt”, it doesn’t mean “classify”. It only means that they will give it a temporary home until conditions (the current situation) improves. (I guess the word “foster-home” would be more analogous than “adopt”.) These Unclassified U.S. (UU) Ordinary Chondrites will be unofficially ensconced in their meteorite department, and of course, will be kept separate from their official meteorite collection.
And there are additional conditions, to include:
1.) The department has to agree that they are, indeed, OC meteorites, and in order to confirm this,
2.) a thin-section must be donated along with,
3.) either the entire specimen, or minimally, a “20% or 20gram type-specimen”, and finally,
4.) no department funds will be spent on these “foster-children” — all of the “adoption paperwork” will be done by the submitter, or by volunteers.
The name of this “meteorite department” is of no importance, because I am convinced that many other MetSoc-approved institutions will soon be doing similar “foster care”.
This institution was very confident that “the current situation” will improve, and maybe in the near future. It’s all dependent upon any one of several factors, to include monetary, or political, or technological advancements. For instance, a cheap & quick method for determining OC class might soon be developed (XRF?). It’s more likely that would occur before actual funding would finally be authorized for classification of US meteorites. But if recent political history has taught us anything, it is that “anything can happen”. Just wait until the nativists discover how much in the way of US tax dollars are spent each year on meteorites from another country (Antarctica), and then they learn that nothing is spent on “American meteors”!
All I am saying is, that current conditions will change, and in time (although I probably won’t live to see it), others may come along who are interested in OC finds from the US, and in classifying them. It would be a shame if grandpa’s meteorite couldn’t get cataloged because all of the recovery history was “lost to the ages”. The fact that times have changed (US meteorites were once gladly classified for free), and that the times will change again in the future (expect same day XRF-testing of OC stones and they go into the MBD the next day) was not lost on the heads of meteorite departments with whom I spoke. It was satisfying that they recognized the current problems. And they didn’t need detailed reports to convince them. Just a quick scan of the MB Database clearly shows that the number of US finds of OC meteorites getting classified has sharply dropped-off off since 2012. In the 5 years prior to 2012 the number of OC finds classified in the US averaged 12 a year. In these 5 years since 2012, there have only been 2 OC finds that have been classified (those under 500grams and not found by me)! Although this can be attributed to US classifiers refusing to classify small OC finds (which started around 2012), the total number of all non-OC finds from the US getting classified has gone down, as well. This trend was not hard to notice. So, these meteorite department heads did not need their arms twisted in order to get them to make an investment into “foster-care”.
It was gratifying to see that this problem has been noticed, and that the potential loss has been recognized and an effort is being made to avert it.
Because of this recent development, this month’s edition of the “Bulletin” will be kept short.
*** Note: The meteorite depicted in this month’s article was not found by me. It was recently found by an Arizona resident while searching for aircraft crash sites. ***
For example, in the images above, the finder shot the photos. This chondritic stone was found by Chris McDoniel. (Except where noted, all of the other images in this article were taken by me.) Chris recovered his stony from an “officially” designated DCA (Dense Collection Area). Although finds made within a DCA can be assigned an “official provisional number” by the Meteoritical Society, this find was too recently recovered to be assigned provisional status. But, just for the record: SINCE 2014 – there have been no new Provisional Numbers assigned to a find made in the United States!
It is for this reason that I will continue assigning provisional “UU” numbers for all Unclassified U.S. (UU) Ordinary Chondrite (OC) finds that I can personally authenticate. If you think it would help to have your “U.U.O.C.” depicted in a future Newsletter, just contact me.
Since this month’s find will be having its type-specimen and thin-section go directly to its new “foster-home”, I will forego the usual “Macroscopic Description” and “Petrographic Description” and go straight to showing their images. In any case, I hope the reader will enjoy the Photo Gallery.
Above is the image of “UU180122” after being cut, showing the devitrified, relict fusion-crust on the weathered exterior.
Above is the image of “UU180122” after having a sample cut for a thin-section of the type-specimen, showing the equilibrated-chondrite interior.
Above is the image of the type-specimen for “UU180122” after having a sample cut for a thin-section, showing the devitrified, relict fusion-crust on the weathered exterior.
Above is the image of the thin-section for “UU180122” (which is a 1″-round, double-polished,
uncovered glass-slide).
Above is the image in PLANE-POLARIZED light of the thin-section for “UU180122” .
Above is the image in CROSS-POLARIZED light of the thin-section for “UU180122” (which is a 1″-round, double-polished, uncovered glass-slide).
The above “Newsletter” is just one example of a way in which to record U.S. Unclassified Ordinary Chondrite (UUOC) meteorite finds. Thankfully, these Bulletins have brought attention to the problem of the increasing number of O.C. meteorites found here in the USA, not only going unclassified, but even going unreported. Although this is not a permanent solution, this “stop-gap measure” is better than nothing, and is certainly better than letting this problem perpetuate.
In the meanwhile, I will do my part and start to submit the required type-specimens & thin-sections to the new “foster-home” of what we know to be “orphaned meteorites”.
References:
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 4 No. 1 — In my 9th Bulletin, I published a table of six (6) “Provisional (UU) Numbers” (for Unclassified U.S. meteorites) that I assigned to some finds from four (4) separate localities:
*** Note: The above 6 meteorites represent 4 localities. ***
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 3 No. 1 — In my 8th Bulletin, I published a table of sixteen (16) “Provisional (UU) Numbers” (for Unclassified U.S. meteorites) that I assigned to some finds from an existing DCA, but were refused entry into the MBD:
*** Note: All of these meteorites were found from a single locality, an officially designated DCA. ***
In all of my previous Bob’s Bulletins, I prefaced each one with an explanation of what I mean by the phrase “orphaned-meteorites from the USA”. I defined “orphaned” as being meteorite “finds” that are recovered in the U.S., but are not being recorded. Contrary to what you may think, these meteorites are being reported, but the finders of these meteorites have encountered resistance in getting provisional numbers assigned to their finds, even when the (obvious) meteorites were recovered from officially designated “Dense Collection Areas” (DCA). These meteorites are being ignored. This is in addition to the current practice by the official classifiers of meteorites to refuse to classify Ordinary Chondrites (OC). Without an “official” classification, meteorites cannot get an officially-approved name by the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society, and hence, cannot be cataloged. And hence, uncatalogued meteorites are “orphaned”.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of new U.S. finds are destined to remain orphans.
In my preface I would go on to explain that these “Unclassified U.S. finds” (UU) were being orphaned from the family of “approved” meteorites for the following reasons:
1) The lack of funding for U.S. researchers to authenticate, classify, and document/record these U.S. OC finds has resulted in several new [negative] trends, all which discourage finders from reporting their finds.
2) The increasing trend of commercializing the classification of meteorites by U.S. researchers has priced U.S. OC finds out of the market, and
3) The increasing trend of U.S. researchers to turn away OC finds, even when finders of U.S. OC meteorites are willing to pay for their classification.
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 2 No. 3 — In my 7th Bulletin, I published a table of six (6) “Provisional (UU)
Numbers” (for Unclassified U.S. meteorites) that I assigned to some recent finds:
*** Note: All of these meteorites were found by one person (not this author) – all in one day. ***
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 2 No. 2 — In my 6th Bulletin, I published a table of the increasing number of unclassified U.S. meteorite finds and petitioned that crowd-sourced funding be used for volunteers to compile and record these finds for later classification and official-approval, until such time that this function can be properly funded with U.S tax-dollars.
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 2 No. 1 — In my 5th Bulletin, I published a table of all the unclassified finds from Coyote Dry Lake DCA that were reported prior to 2007.
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 1 No. 4 — In my 4th Bulletin, I reported that several U.S. researchers were volunteering their time and effort to record and publish meteorite falls and finds, such as, Creston and Misfits Flat. I suggested that this method of cataloging newly found US meteorite specimens could be expanded, but the main hindrance is that there is no funding for this kind of effort.
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 1 No. 3 — In my 3rd Bulletin, I proposed the idea of an on-line database for these “orphaned” and other unclassified U.S. meteorites. This would have to be an all-volunteer effort, much in the same manner that the American Meteor Society has established the Fireball Reporting System. This database would give finders a central point to report their finds and have a field ID number issued to them. This “Field ID” would reflect which US state and date of find. The function of this database should not be confused with already established processes of getting a meteorite “classified”, which is obviously way more labor intensive and costly.
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 1 No. 2 — In my 2nd Bulletin, I went into more detail about why I use the phrase “orphaned-meteorites from the USA”. I focused on the lack of U.S.-tax-dollar-funding and why no funding was going towards the classification of these particular meteorites. In hindsight, I now realize that I should have pointed-out that there is also a lack of funding for just authenticating and recording that a U.S. meteorite has been found. This function should never be confused with “classifying” a meteorite, which is obviously way more labor intensive and costly.
Bob’s Bulletin – Vol. 1 No. 1 — In my first Bulletin, I introduced the phrase “orphaned-meteorites from the USA”. I defined these “orphans” as being unwitnessed-fall Ordinary Chondrite (OC) meteorite “finds” that are recovered in the U.S. Unfortunately, the vast majority of U.S. finds are of this type. I went on to write that these U.S. finds were being orphaned from the family of “approved” meteorites for the following reasons:
1) The lack of funding for U.S. researchers to authenticate, classify, and document/record these U.S. OC finds has resulted in several new [negative]; trends.
2) The increasing trend of commercializing the classifying of meteorites by U.S. researchers has priced U.S. OC finds out of the market, and
3) The increasing trend of U.S. researchers to turn away OC finds, even when finders of U.S. OC meteorites are willing to pay for their classification.
Meteoritical Bulletin: the search results for all provisional meteorites found in “USA” – Published by Meteoritical Society – Meteoritical Bulletin, Database.
If you “Click” on the header titled “Assigned On”, it will change the table to chronological order by date of assignment, and it will show that – SINCE 2014 – there have been no new Provisional Numbers assigned to a find made in the United States!
Meteorites of California the list of formally-recognized California meteorite falls and finds.
My previous Bob’s Bulletins can be found *HERE*
If you would like to sponsor any of these orphans, and help in getting them classified, in order to get them entered into the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, then please contact me by email:
