Is Your Heavy Rock with a Brown Streak a Meteorite?

[millzee]

TL;DR

I recently found this rock...it is very heavy, leaves a distinct brown mark on unfinished white tile, and was quite difficult to cut a piece off from a corner. Could it be a meteorite? Please reach me at [personal e-mail deleted by a Mentor]

I recently found this rock...it is very heavy, leaves a distinct brown mark on unfinished white tile, and was quite difficult to cut a piece off from a corner. Could it be a meteorite? Please reach me at [personal e-mail deleted by a Mentor]

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to PF. We deleted your e-mail from your post since it attracts spam bots and other bad things.

Can you say where you are geographically in the world? That will help @davenn with his detective work.

 

[davenn]

Welcome to PF. We deleted your e-mail from your post since it attracts spam bots and other bad things.

Can you say where you are geographically in the world? That will help @davenn with his detective work.

There is a still an email addy there ...end of first line of summary

 

[davenn]

I recently found this rock...it is very heavy, leaves a distinct brown mark on unfinished white tile, and was quite difficult to cut a piece off from a corner. Could it be a meteorite?

Hi there Keith,
welcome to PF

collecting meteorites is a pretty serious hobby of mine

Initial thoughts is that it looks like a lump if iron slag from a furnace.
the photos are a bit dark, so hard to make a good visual analysis
Please redo the 3rd and 4th photos again, outside in natural light and with the 4th photo get in a bit closer

But as @berkeman says, please tell us where you found it and I can have a look and see if there were any known
iron met's in that area

cheers
Dave

 

[Vanadium 50]

it is very heavy, leaves a distinct brown mark on unfinished white tile, and was quite difficult to cut a piece off from a corner.

Sounds more like a piece of slag. Does it have vesicles? (Little holes, like it underwent extreme heat)

 

[Baluncore]

Another possibility would be a concretion weathered out of a sedimentary rock. Or possibly sand blasted, from a gibber stone desert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion

 

[millzee]

Hi there Keith,
welcome to PF

collecting meteorites is a pretty serious hobby of mine

Initial thoughts is that it looks like a lump if iron slag from a furnace.
the photos are a bit dark, so hard to make a good visual analysis
Please redo the 3rd and 4th photos again, outside in natural light and with the 4th photo get in a bit closer

But as @berkeman says, please tell us where you found it and I can have a look and see if there were any known
iron met's in that area

cheers
Dave

would iron slag hold a magnet?

 

[millzee]

Hi there Keith,
welcome to PF

collecting meteorites is a pretty serious hobby of mine

Initial thoughts is that it looks like a lump if iron slag from a furnace.
the photos are a bit dark, so hard to make a good visual analysis
Please redo the 3rd and 4th photos again, outside in natural light and with the 4th photo get in a bit closer

But as @berkeman says, please tell us where you found it and I can have a look and see if there were any known
iron met's in that area

cheers
Dave

I found it in southwest missouri...would iron slag hold a magnet?

 

[Baluncore]

“southwest missouri” is a bit vague. Use google Earth to locate the site. Give us the latitude and longitude.

What was the situation, did you find it in a stream bed, lying on the surface of a ploughed field, or in the roots of a fallen tree?

What other similar rocks were around there? Was there any bedrock visible?

 

[Vanadium 50]

. Does it have vesicles?

 

[davenn]

I found it in southwest missouri...would iron slag hold a magnet?

usually but not always, does your sample stick to a magnet ?

Again, please redo the photos I asked for and answer @Vanadium 50 's question on vesicles

The thing that really puts me off thinking that you have an iron meteorite is that it totally lacks
scalloped areas, rather your one has lumps...

here's a couple of my iron meteorites
They show features that can only happen with a hot flight through the atmosphere...

Dave

 

[davenn]

I found it in southwest missouri

As some one else said ... just a bit vague, there are 3 known iron meteorite fall locations in the greater SW Missouri
So again, be a bit more accurate on the location

 

[Vanadium 50]

it totally lacks scalloped areas, rather your one has lumps

I'm having a hard time telling lumps from dents. Much less regna...regma...regmalith...regmagl...oh, to heck with it!

 

[chemisttree]

Could you section it, polish and acid etch it? Widmanstatten pattern? Or EDX it and report the Ni content?

 

[davenn]

Could you section it, polish and acid etch it? Widmanstatten pattern?

This of course is the best test for any possible iron meteorite
Something like 98-99% will show a Widmanstatten pattern after a surface is cut, polished and etched

The other 1% are Ataxite irons which have a very smooth interior after being polished and will
show occasional sulphide inclusions