Any rock hounds here in the Treehouse.

[Ax-Man]

This is not a joke and I haven't gone off the deep end and this is a little different subject matter other than trees and chainsaws, politics and religion.

I think I may have found a metorite on our property and need some more information about them and how to go about finding out if this rock is truly a metorite. I have done some researching on the net but I need to know who I need to contact to take a look at his rock or how to go about it finding someone with credentials in geology.

Any takers???

 

[SkwerI]

You could start by poking around the NASA website, perhaps?

 

[Ax-Man]

That is a start.

 

[Mr. Sir]

You might want to contact the Geology Department at Illinois State University.

 

[chucky]

If you've got a University nearby with a geology dept., someone there would be bound to identify it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

http://www.aerolite.org/found-a-meteorite.htm

 

[Monkeywithasaw]

if you have a rare earth magnet and it sticks it could be a space rock

 

[Ax-Man]

Thanks for the tips and links guy's. I forgot about the colleges as a source of info.

I was going to check into the the Natural History Museum up in Chicago they have a collection of rocks, minerals and gems there on display. The colleges would probaly be easier to contact and are closer to me than the History Museum.

What is a rare earth magnet Monkey W. S. ??? I take it is different than a regular magnet. A regular magnet does stick to this rock?

 

[Al Smith]

It's most likely an iron bearing space rock .

Interestingly some eons ago prior to the knowlege of smelting and refining of iron into steel these things were prized by ancient arms makers for swords etc .What they didn't know at the time was that the meterorites entry into our atmoshere had burned all the impurites out of the iron and left it hard as rock steel of some element harder and more durable than any thing they knew of at the time .

 

[gf beranek]

Oh this is so cool. I hope it is a meteorite. What a find!! All the luck with you..

 

[Jason Gairn]

I've got one. It's very heavy for it's size. I had it checked out by the Museum of Natural History in London England. Cool find Larry, got any pictures?

 

[Che]

I agree, call/email the university's geology dept. How exciting!! ...and yes, we need pictures!

My son found a rock a few years ago, I emailed the geology department at Kentucky University. I got a reply quickly. Wish I could remember what he said, though....

 

[rskybiz]

I am a rock hound. To identify it everyone has posted to usual channels. My gram has one that came though her roof in 1963 weighs 27lbs about the size of a football. Worth some coin if so.

 

[Ax-Man]

I'll get a pic up soon and see what you guys think. I have seen so many pictures of rocks that are metorites that I am not sure what I have. My rock definately attracts a good magnet, jagged looking in appearance, it is dark colored but lacks that jet black fusion crust like a freshly fallen metorite. My rock is kind of a faded black or border line dark blue. It is a little heavier than other rocks the same size. Mine lacks those thumprints or regelmites(?) but I have seen pics of true metorites that don't fit in this description either. Some of those true metorites were brown and kind of roundish or at least had rounded corners. So I am confused

This weekend I spent a little time with a magnet and found more rocks that attact a magnet. These rocks were big but didn't attact a magnet quite as well. Like Al said most likely I have dark colored iron bearing rock. I still have my fingers crossed. Be nice to have a true metorite.

One of those links I have been reading said it is rare to find a metorite in Illinois. Only 9 have ever been found

I should take a small slice off of it and see what it looks like on the inside but I would rather no as I don't want to ruin it just in case it turns out to be real. I wouldn't know what I was looking at if I did slice it open.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'll trade you this poster.

click!

 

[Ax-Man]

Here are some pics.

The more I research this the more I think I have just a plain old dark colored river rock that attracts a magnet. The native rocks in our area aren't this dark colored. Who knows where it came from. I know it looks rounded from erosion but who is to say a glacier didn't grind it smooth. It does have lines in that look like it was ground smooth in a glacier. The glaciers did make it down to our area of the state . When they melted they formed our present day topography. I don't know. I am not a geologist.

Wouldn't be a fair trade Butch

 

[MasterBlaster]

It doesn't look like any meteorite that I've seen. Odd that it attracts a magnet, eh?

 

[squisher]

I'm no expert, but it's definetly a rock of some sort.

 

[sotc]

But how did it come through the roof?

 

[squisher]

Through the roof?

Heh even if it's only a rock, thing of all the fun that's been had from it, and knowledge gained too.

 

[Ax-Man]

Didn't go through my roof. R Biz's grandmother is the lucky winner for that one. A witnessed or documented fall like that makes metorites much more valuable from what I have learned. These things are sold by the gram my rock weighs 2lbs. or 907 grams if I did the conversion right.

 

[sotc]

Ooops, crossed stories

 

[Che]

While it's probably not a meteorite, maybe it's a coprolite...that would be interesting as well.

 

[stig]

Why would a coprolite be magnetic?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yea, no shit!

LOL.