Midnight Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Hello all my daughter (10 years old) is a rock hound. She was out in a area here in Oklahoma over Christmas break and found a rock she can't ID. He is really heavy about 2 lbs. But it's not magnetic. She knows from reading on the Internet and in her 20 or so books that most meteorites are iron. But a few are not. I have included a pic of her rock to help. Thanks. For size ref Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Hi Midnight, I may be wrong, as with any pic it's difficult to tell, but I believe the rock your daughter found is a chunk of chromite (olivine-chromite) sometimes called greenstone. I found one once. They are heave due to the high chromium content, somewhat metalic looking, but only weekly magnetic. I've included a pic from the web of hunk of chromite; see what you think. If it were a diogenite type of meteorite (green meteorite) I believe there whould be less grey sort of metalic looking material. With the amount of grey sort of metalic looking materal showing in your photo, the diogenite would attract a magnet strongly, which is not the case, as diogenites have typically less than 1 pecent metal (iron-nickel). Metal in a diogenite is usually, but not always, found as small metal flakes throughout. Hope this helps. Great you have a daughter that's a rock hound! Keep her hunting and she will turn up with a meteorite! Thank You for posting! Clifton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 As I went to post this final pic I notice your response. It's not green at all it's grey with satin shine to it. My daughter just had to chip it open to see what was in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnno Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 G'Day MidnightGood to see your daughter is into geology, keep her on course. I find your images to be of basalt. And also I'd like to inform you that most meteorites are not iron, the majority of meteorites are stoney meteorites. Irons are in the minorityCheersJohnno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondog Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Hi Midnight, Yeah Johnno may be right; it's hard to tell how heavy something is with a pic. I figured the rock would have a dark interior as chromite ore does. I've included a link to a better pic of chromite ore of the kind I've seen. The rocks on the top and left is more what I had in mind.(not a great pic) A sort of greenish yellow coating (olivine-weathered - along previous fissures in the rock) over a dark interior, but again hard to say with just a pic. Thanks again for the new pic! I wish your Daughter good luck hunting! Cliftonhttp://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/281345026/chrome_ore/showimage.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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