IMAGE GALLERY FOR LUCERNE VALLEY METEORITE - LV 017

TKW = 12.8 grams Found: 30-Mar-99 Class: L6 [25.5%+/-0.6] S3 W4 (unpaired)

- - - REVISITING LUCERNE DRY LAKE 30 YEARS LATER - - -

- - - RON HARTMAN FINDS LV 017 AFTER A 30 YEAR HIATUS - - -
- - - RON WAS THE ORIGINAL FINDER OF THE LUCERNE VALLEY METEORITES - - -
- - - HIS OTHER FINDS ARE LV 001, LV 004, AND LV 005, - - -
- - - AS WELL AS, FINDS FROM OTHER METEORITE STREWN FIELDS - - -



The condition of the exterior of this meteorite is relatively well-preserved when compared to its interior, which has had most of the Fe-Ni metal weathered to oxide. As a result, the interior is deeply stained to a dark, hematitic red color. Special weathering conditions must have existed in order for the exterior to have been protected from the wind and the intermittent but caustic standing water on the playa, while percolating rain water deeply permeated and oxidized much of this meteorites metal. This suggests that this find had been buried for a period of time in one of the many sandy hummocks bordering this lake prior to its exhumation. This further suggests that it did NOT come from a recent fall!?

Lucerne Valley 017 post cut for thin-sectioning and analysis. Click on image at left for an image of the find before cutting.

 
"Click" HERE Exterior - top 1/2 of find under fluorescent lighting.
"Click" HERE Exterior - close-up shows a contraction crack in relict fusion crust.
"Click" HERE Exterior - same view as above top under incandescent lighting.
"Click" HERE Exterior - top 1/2 of find under incandescent lighting.
"Click" HERE Interior - opposite (cut) side of find under fluorescent lighting. Troilite grains (not metal) outline dark stained chondrules.
"Click" HERE Interior - same side, but through a coating of alcohol to aid viewing. Grains with the brighter, metallic luster are actually meteoritic sulfides. The grains with a faint bluish tint are mostly Fe-Ni metal, along with some hematite. Unlike the fractured troilite grains, polishing of this surface has placed a mirror like surface on some hematite and all the metal grains. Except at critical angle, these grains reflect very poorly the overhead fluorescent lights.
"Click" HERE Interior - same side. Coating of alcohol and incandescent lighting on this cut surface exaggerate the effects of oxide-staining due to weathering.
"Click" HERE Interior - same side. This image is in focus. It's the rims of the chondrules that are indistinct, here magnified 15x.
"Click" HERE Interior - same side. Large, dark chondrule is 4 mm wide. Void (top center) may have been a large metal grain or a plucked chondrule.
"Click" HERE Exterior - the other end cut. Bottom 1/2 of find under fluorescent lighting. Large pit may have formed when a 4 mm chondrule was plucked from the fusion crust.
"Click" HERE Exterior - same side. Bottom 1/2 of find under incandescent lighting.
"Click" HERE Exterior - bottom 1/2 of find under incandescent lighting. Deep pit affords access to interior matrix for weathering agents.
"Click" HERE Interior - cut and polished surface.
"Click" HERE Interior - same surface as above, but with a coating of alcohol to aid viewing under fluorescent lighting.
"Click" HERE Interior - same conditions as above, but under incandescent lighting.
"Click" HERE Interior - same side. Coating of alcohol and incandescent lighting on this cut surface exaggerate the effects of oxide-staining during weathering.
"Click" HERE Interior - same side. This image is in focus. It's the rims of the chondrules that are indistinct, here magnified 10x.
"Click" HERE Interior - close-up, now magnified 16x..
"Click" HERE A very preliminary map showing the approximate spacing of finds over the Lucerne Dry Lake surface.

        Any comments would be appreciated. Information regarding the existance of other Lucerne Valley meteorite finds would be very useful in the pursuit of this scientific inquiry. Your help would be very much appreciated.
Bolide*chaser

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--
 since July 1, 1998.



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Previous Update: July 27, 1999

Last Updated: October 10, 2011