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Because our creek moves a great deal of rock, I've been meaning to work it with a metal detector during the summer months when it's dry, for a long time now. It seems likely that a meteorite would get deposited on the property during heavy flows, from time to time. A friend finally loaned me his detector so I gave it a go. Within an hour I found three possible candidates, with one quickly ruled out as it's not affected by a magnet. The other two are looking somewhat promsing. I've been reviewing the various tests that one can do at home, but suggestions are appreciated.
I've done rub tests and visually inspected them to see if they could be magnetite or hematite. So far they seem to look more like iron meteorites than anything else. I just tried using a file on one surface of each and put them in vinegar. I don't know if the low concentration of acid will be enough to work with time, but I know from previous reading that stronger HCL will leave a dististinctive cross-hatch pattern in some types of meteorites, so I'm hoping vinegar might be enough if left to soak long enough. If not, perhaps muriatic acid will work? I haven't spotted the required concentration yet. Maybe I'll need to get something stronger?
I started with this site as a reference.
http://static.arxiv.org/pdf/1109.4897.pdf
One find is just a pebble really; pyramidal in shape with about a 0.5 x 0.5 inch base. The other candiate is more like 1" x 2" x 0.75" in size.
I've done rub tests and visually inspected them to see if they could be magnetite or hematite. So far they seem to look more like iron meteorites than anything else. I just tried using a file on one surface of each and put them in vinegar. I don't know if the low concentration of acid will be enough to work with time, but I know from previous reading that stronger HCL will leave a dististinctive cross-hatch pattern in some types of meteorites, so I'm hoping vinegar might be enough if left to soak long enough. If not, perhaps muriatic acid will work? I haven't spotted the required concentration yet. Maybe I'll need to get something stronger?
I started with this site as a reference.
http://static.arxiv.org/pdf/1109.4897.pdf
One find is just a pebble really; pyramidal in shape with about a 0.5 x 0.5 inch base. The other candiate is more like 1" x 2" x 0.75" in size.
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