metwerks Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I found this on the shores of Lake Michigan - The first 2 pics are an area I sanded down......It is highly attracted to magnets and has a couple bits of pure iron which I sanded a small area off shown in photo 3 & 4- - Thoughts?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azblackbird Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 I found this on the shores of Lake Michigan - The first 2 pics are an area I sanded down......It is highly attracted to magnets and has a couple bits of pure iron which I sanded a small area off shown in photo 3 & 4- - Thoughts??Me thinks you should post rocks with bits of iron in them in the "rocks and minerals" forum. Just saying…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metwerks Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Quote from Washington University in St Lous "With a few rare and well known exceptions, naturally occurring terrestrial rock do not contain iron metal or iron-nickel metal" - Just saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billpeters Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Metwerks,In spite of the Washington University quote rocks similar to what you have found on the shores of Lake Michigan containing iron are extremely common. I have found rocks like that all of the time there. They are not meteorites. Your description and accompanying pictures confirm your rock is terrestrial in origin. It has no characteristics at all of a meteorite at any level. Your conglomerate stone contains quartz and endless other terrestrial fragments common to Lake Michigan conglomerate stones. Even the iron is nodule is exactly what you would find there and nothing of what you would expect from a space rock.Sorry to disappoint you. They're out there, but stay away from beach rocks.billpetersQuote from Washington University in St Lous "With a few rare and well known exceptions, naturally occurring terrestrial rock do not contain iron metal or iron-nickel metal" - Just saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metwerks Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Thank you.....I knew most of this (beach, no fusion crust.....) just never saw any containig iron. Why is it they say meteorite are never on beaches? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmason Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Never say never...say exceedingly rare to find...harder still to recognize one...salt water beaches even more harder...fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank c Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Moisture is their worst enemy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regmaglitch Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Frank hit the nail on the head. moisture, especially moisture with salt, quickly oxidizes meteorites. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikestang Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Not to mention beach surfaces are in constant flux. Much easier to find a meteorite that fell and time in the past several thousand years on a surface that stays the same for thousands of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basaltgooroo Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 My guess would be a ballast stone from a ship wreck. I have one with copper in it that I bought at a rock and gem show. The gent I picked it up off of said it was from rocks used in smelters in Europe (in this particular case) at copper mine. Later the smelter bricks (or rocks) were recycled as ballast stones for a ship sailing to North America. Wacky story right? Which is of course why I had to add it to my rock collection.Your stone's matrix has quite a bit of quarts and other SiO2 minerals for it to be anthing but terrestrial.For the record, the Earth rocks containing native iron or Telluric (iron in a metallic state,) can only found deep in the Earth's crust. Only 2 places in the world can it be found near the surface where volcanic activity has brought it to the surface (Germany and Greenland.) Therefore, it would be highly unlikely that your stone would be telluric specimen.-Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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