Bedrock Bob

Popac, Why didn't you mention he was an older person who lived on top of a hill? That changes everything! You definitely have a Martian Meteorite because they only fall on hilltops where older fellows live. We can identify rocks and meteorites pretty good around here. We suck at changing opinions that have been formed on assumptions that are incorrect. Most of the time it is much easier to identify the specimen as a terrestrial mineral or rock rather than prove it is a meteorite. You said, " I don't see what else could it be" but I can think of several minerals it could be. Schist or galena (or some other polymetallic sulphide) comes to mind. Schorl, peridotite/olivinite, and several minerals that form in pegmatites could look exactly like your photos. If we drop the assumptions it is a Martian meteorite based on not knowing what else it could be we could identify this common terrestrial material! Why don't we identify the specimen based on scientific observation? Let's look at hardness, density, streak and texture and determine what it is!

Being in a hole that suddenly appeared is not a characteristic of a meteorite. And being in a hole that suddenly appeared and not being attracted to a magnet is not indicative of a Martian meteorite. I am sorry but IMHO your rock is not a meteorite. It is a valuable rock though because it spurred your interest and imagination and hopefully you will learn from the investigation. Spend a little time researching the characteristics of a meteorite. This forum's archives is a great resource but the best primer on meteorites is "Rocks From Space" by O. Richard Norton. It is interesting reading and you will learn everything that (most) people need to know about the subject. Good luck my friend!

That is a cool piece! The grain was really retained as the wood mineralized. In my experience opalized wood or bone often has a soft, white, almost chalky cortex. It also retains the grain or vascular structure more than agatized wood. Consequently many of the shapes you find will be "splits" just like little pieces of wood. I think yours probably splintered off from a larger rock. I think the white tip on that piece represents the cortex of the original, larger opalized stone. The colored portion represents the interior of the original stone. …. Back when I was a young hippie kid I used to wear a little petrified wood "split" on a cord around my neck. It was a popular piece of bohemian jewelry back in the day. Nowdays at the Farmers Market you can find the long little pieces of wood tumble polished and wire wrapped. They are getting really popular again and can be more valuable that you think. Opalized and agatized wood and bone are some of the easiest stones to get a nice finish on and people really snap them up. The artists at the market are always after the long shapes to wrap as pendants and the thin flakes to drill as ear rings. They are really in demand. I have sold several pounds of petrified wood for wire wrapping in the past year. All as individual pieces for pendants or thin paired flakes for earrings. All of them wood similar to your specimen (although none retaining such nice sharp corners and even faces like yours). A gold pan full of polished pieces can be worth several hundred dollars at $1-$3 per stone. The ladies I have been selling the stones to will invest a couple hours in some really intricate wire work and sell the piece for $40-$50. I take a bag of petrified wood every Saturday and can always sell a few pieces for wrapping. So far I have recouped my initial investment for the tumblers and grit and have made that much more in profit. So don't underestimate how valuable a few handfuls of pretty rocks can be.

I see no meteoritic characteristics at all. Magnetism, fusion crust, free metallic iron, regmaglypts, high specific gravity, chondrules, stuff like that is indicative of a meteorite. I don't see any of those things. What makes you think it is a meteorite? What makes you think it is specifically a Martian meteorite?

This is my sense of humor.

Wow! Those must be some expensive electrons Grubby! Are you sure your wife is not growing weed in the shed?

I disagree. It has nothing to do with meteorites at all.

After many hours of searching I have located another iron meteorite. I won't give the specific location but I can tell you I was searching near Tucson, Az. The iron was found under about 24" of corn flakes and oyster shells. I was using an Illudium PU-36 Space Modulator with some blinking lights on top. The machine worked flawlessly even at that depth! Just look at that fusion crust! It is green indicating olivine is present! And the flow lines have created a texture that almost resembles a bamboo shoot. The enameled finish on the inside is smooth from the trip through the atmosphere and there is even a little stainless steel infuser that sits under the top. I have rubbed it on my toilet tank lid, waved a compass near it and stuck a refrigerator magnet to it. All tests indicate this is a type O-positive, Mesosideritic Chondruloid that came from Uranus at cosmic velocity. It was even found near a burned fence post. So you know this shite is the real deal. Similar specimens sell for around $25 and can bring as much as $40 with the two cast iron teacups that fall from the sky with them. So far I have found a half dozen of these meteorites in various strewn fields but no teacups yet. I keep thinking that I am not finding iron teacups because the machine just won't hit on an object that small. I am looking for a signal enhancer and a more sensitive coil for the PU-36 so I can complete the set. If I still can't find iron teacups with it I might have to break down and buy a new set of pulse induction dowsing rods and a coal fired pinpointer.

Holbrook is one of the easiest strewn fields to locate. Anyone who has spent an hour reading about it has a pretty good idea where to hunt. If you are interested in Holbrook do a bit of basic research. If you are interested in hunting meteorites you will have to figure out how to find locations and Holbrook is an easy place to start. Or... The archives on this forum have a dozen discussions that will put you on the spot. In these discussions certain members identify as having experience there. You could get to know one of these fellows on this forum by engaging in a conversation about meteorites. Maybe then someone would be compelled to share information with you? I don't have any maps, sketches or GPS coordinates for you but I do have a big red Xyou can copy and paste onto a Google map. Hopefully that helps. You are Welcome in retrospect!

I bet the crew is still scraping their pants out with a putty knife! Blowing over and derailing would be bad enough. Falling off the bridge into the canyon is another ride all together! Betcha he was going about 90 mph when he went over too. Those trains out in that country really get rolling along.

Looks like it blew a train off the tracks in eastern New Mexico... https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/wind-causes-train-to-derail-in-eastern-new-mexico/5277830/?cat=500 If you open your mouth facing west out there today you will inflate like a balloon. I walked out to check the mail and it blew my new tattoo off my arm.

Thanks fellows! I appreciate it!

We have that fine dusty dirt that you could paddle a canoe through too. When it gets wet in the late summer it is like Elmer's glue and when it is at moisture proctor in the fall it is as hard as pavement. After some freeze thaw cycles in winter it breaks up like rubble and by spring when it dries out completely it is like sifted flour again. You drive though it up to the axles on some of those roads and it just moves around the tires like nothing. It'll choke the hell out of you driving with a bit of a tailwind and cover everything in a vehicle quick. Isn't that the stuff those giant Nevada sandworms swim around in?

That is a funny deal huh? Deming is usually the worst place you could be in a windstorm. Everyone agrees the haboobs are bigger in Deming. Yesterday the whole Rio Grande Valley from Taos to El Paso was horrible. White Sands was borderline deadly. But when I looked at the NMDOT road conditions it was just a warning on I-70. It blew 50-70 mph in Las Cruces from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Then it rained (or mudded) until about 10:00 p.m.. We even got some hail late in the evening. Of course today was a brilliant blue day that was just about as perfect as you could ever want. Not even a puff of a cloud in the sky and we all sat in the sunshine and drank coffee and talked about how crappy the weather was yesterday. I'm still picking sand out of the corners of my eyes though.