Gold Basin Finds - Made by the group of people accompanying "SPACEROCKS" (Moonbeam-Meteorite Rings) - and recorded by Bolidechaser on his 3rd Trip (980327-28)

Specimen ID.	Image	Description
A.M. Finds		Collection of the meteorite (L4) finds made on Friday morning. For scale, the 178 gram (gm) specimen in the center of this image is just over 3 inches long. These finds are resting on the bottom of a white plastic tray that is approximately 8 inches wide. Lighting is very poor due to heavy cloud cover. It rained for the remainder of the day soon after this.
GB98086-TG		Close up of Terry Glockner's 178gm "spear (bolide) point". As with the other specimens, these were found on, or very near the surface.
GB98086-SR1		Approx. 15gm. Weathering exposes chondrules.
GB98086-SR2		Another close up image. This side shows evidence of physical weathering. Same as in next image, as well.
GB98057-PM		Preston Morisbige's heart-shaped find.
GB98086-SR3		Primary ablated surface is well preserved.
Grouped		Combined locations of all finds. Coordinates can be determined fom the location depicted here on this image of the 7.5min. Garnet Mountain NW Quadrangle, R18W, T29N, Sec. 15.
Artifacts		Until there are more finds to be posted, I thought I'd show some peculiar "ball bearing-shaped" iron artifacts (0.5cm wide) that I kept finding when I was close to the road. Since their shape is less round and more oblate spheroidal with one side slightly flatter or dimpled, I tend to think of these as home made iron shot droppings. Whatever, but why were they intentionally thrown by the side of the road?
Artifacts		Reverse side of the above.
Artifacts		Closeup image of a ball bearing budding a BB?? Whatever. This magnetized iron duckie always points north. No, really, it does.
Iron Artifact - etched		I took one of these "iron droplets", ground down a flat side, polished that side, and etched it in nitrol solution. Even with the light source at "critical angle" there is no obvious etch pattern. But under magnification... (see next image)
Iron Artifact - etched		Under 14x magnification, a pattern of lines became apparent.... (see next image)
Iron Artifact - etched		Depending upon the angle of lighting, different sets of intersecting etch lines would become visible. Still under 14x magnification.... (see next image)
Iron Artifact - etched		These intersecting etch-lines become even more apparent under increased magnification, and inclusions in the metal now become visible. The rate of cooling for a molten metal crystallizing to a solid, is inversely proportional to the grain size of those crystals. A smaller droplet of molten iron will cool more rapidly than a larger droplet, and hence, the smaller droplet will solidify with smaller-grained crystals. If the molten droplet is composed of an alloy of metals with differing rates of crystallization, the resultant solidified droplet may be comprised of grains with variable sizes. Can anyone identify what kind of metal this is? ... (see next image)
Iron Artifact - etched		This image shows sets of parallel lines, as well as solitary, non-parallel lines. At some intersections of these two types of lines, the parallel lines appear to change direction at some set angle. At other intersections with these bolder non-parallel lines, the parallel lines cross this boundary unchanged.... (see next image)
Iron Artifact - etched		These are NOT sets of parallel scratch lines. These lines only became visible after the specimen was acid-etched. These are NOT Neumann Lines, either. An etch-pattern can develop on any specimen that is an alloy of metals with differing rates of reaction to nitric acid. In this image there are areas in which the intersecting lines form at right angles, and in other areas they form at different angles. Although the boundary between these areas is not distinct, this may be the boundary between two grains, or possibly, incipient plates. A Caltech metallurgist examined these images, but could not identify the type of metal or how it was formed. He did confess that it was an unusual etch pattern.
Artifacts		The only projectiles from the sky that I found on this trip.

Images are by page author, Bolidechaser.
This page dedicated to all the volunteers who reported the locations and masses of their finds to Jim Kriegh.

Return to 3rd Trip Log

Regarding this page please contact - Bo at bolidechaser@tripod.net
TRIPOD
010101