help identifying a rock

[king kenneth]

Hi guys. thanks to the Admin for approving my registration.

I'd appreciate your help here, because this is slowly doing my head in.

Last year I located what appears to be an impact crater here in the UK. Well it's more of an impact pit really, 10 metres wide.

It impacted into damp soil and is very isolated. Anyway, me and the family found some odd rocks around it, and currently one of them is being investigated. To be honest, it looks like impact breccia to me, but i'll leave that one to the experts.

Anyway, on further investigating the crater, I found a further two rocks. On checking them, I noticed in one what LOOKED like chondrules, so I ordered a handheld microscope off Ebay to take some images of these 'chondrules'

When I processed the images, I was stunned. they are EXTREMELY colourful rocks, though you wouldn't think so looking at them with the eye only. I fully enhanced the colours of the images to bring out the variety of colours in them. To the eye, they just look a sort of biscuit brown.

This is what the rocks look like, colour enhanced..

http://i55.tinypic.com/16aeiw8.jpg

Here are the two 'chondrules' I spotted with a magnifying lens, colour enhanced (for scale, the first 'chondrule' is 1mm in diameter, and all the close up pics were taken the same way, microscope held right to the surface of the rocks)..

http://i54.tinypic.com/351d2x5.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/k3kr3b.jpg

Here is what is right through these rocks, reminds me of bunches of grapes, first one was the raw pic snapped with the microscope, second one is colour enhanced..

http://i53.tinypic.com/34yd2tv.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/34issqb.jpg

There are also little bits of what look like silvery metal in these rocks, and this next one is the most spectacular looking, again first one raw microscope pic, second one colour enhanced..

http://i55.tinypic.com/2ue4mu0.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/357gcxl.jpg

has anyone got any idea what I am looking at here? Even if it is an earth rock, I'll be relieved because I can cross it off my list, but there are some very odd features in this rock to my amateur eyes. Is it Granite? if it is, what are those silvery inclusions, and why are there 'chondrules' in the rock? I do know circular features can show up in some granites, but supposedly there is no granite in the local geology around here.

Not sure if I've done right posting Tinypic links to save bandwidth. Let me know if I shouldn't have.

I have lots more pics of 'chondrules' in these rocks as well, if indeed that is what they are.

Any help at all in identifying these would be appreciated. I have trawled the net looking for matches, whether earth or space rocks, with no luck so far.

Thank you all.

[Mikestang]

Terrestrial magmatic crystalline interior; a.k.a. granite.

A clear, macro picture of the entire stone and another of a "window" into the stone, both without any color enhancements, is optimal for viewing.

You'll never need a microscope to see metal flakes in H and L chondrites.

Here's a helpful link to id'ing earth rocks: http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/rockkey/index.html

For your comparison, this is what chondrules look like:

[king kenneth]

Thanks Mike.

Had a sneaky feeling they might be earth rocks.

this is an interesting image I just snapped, of what looks like a clear glass particle. Based on this I am ruling these out as space rocks. The hunt continues. :yuk-yuk:

[king kenneth]

Thanks for your help before Mike. I know I'm being a pain, but can you, or any other experienced member take a look at these images of another suspect rock I have as well for me please? This one was also found at the suspected crater, and is about an inch square. The black areas on the main pic are friable, almost coal like inclusions. when I sanded that face, the black stuff came away quite easily. I stopped sanding when I saw it coming off. The make up of this rock is very similar to the other two rocks I showed you though, and like them it seems to have clear(ish) tiny glass like inclusions in it as well. the first close up is of a window in the rock, sanded with a fine sandpaper, and the second is of the curious triangular black inclusion you can see on the main pic..

I won't take up bandwidth by posting the pics in the thread, I'll use Tinypic.

first pic is a pic of the whole rock..

http://i55.tinypic.com/uq9eq.jpg

first close up..

http://i52.tinypic.com/2cmvvph.jpg

second close up, of the triangular feature..

http://i55.tinypic.com/2zzjd3l.jpg

the suspected lump of breccia I found has STILL not come back from testing from the museum I sent it to, and I am hearing nothing from them, despite repeated enquiries. I'll try again this coming week, and let you know if it is a result of an impact. They've had it now since the 21st of July, so something's up.

anyway, any help or advice about this would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

[Johnno]

Mike is correct Sorry Terrestrial another link that might help you.

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htm

Cheers Johnno

[king kenneth]

Mike is correct Sorry Terrestrial another link that might help you.

http://meteorites.wu...eteorwrongs.htm

Cheers Johnno

thanks Johhno.

just fyi, all these rocks I found were around the 'crater', in what is a very damp, almost boggy sheep grazing area. the 'impact' event happened 8 years ago, by my investigations, and all I want to do is exclude all the samples I have collected from this area.

thanks for your help.

I'll just assume from now on that all the material that came down, if indeed it is an impact event, is still in the 'crater', and as soon as I get confirmation that the object I am having checked is indeed a form of breccia, I'll inform the landowner of what I have found and I'll take it from there. I'll let you know what happens, whether it is an impact event, or nothing, I promise.

I won't bother any of you again until then though.

M

[Goldfinger]

"the 'impact' event happened 8 years ago, by my investigations, and all I want to do is exclude all the samples I have collected from this area."

No offense but any true impact crater would have been well documented by now and if there were any meteorites to be found- almost all of them would have been located. :twocents:

Steve

[ipraytofindthem]

Gebel Kamil is a newly discovered impact crater and has not been extremely hunted so there are exceptions.