What Would a Carbonaceous Chondrite Look Like?

[GeoJack]

Wondering what a carbonaceous chondrite would look like after being in the elements for several years?

They looked like this right after the fall.

[Mikestang]

I think it depends greatly on what type of CC it is.  Like there are several weathered CV3s from NWA that look a lot like ordinary chondrites on the outside, but there's also very friable CCs like Tagish Lake that probably disintegrated after the first winter.

I think the one you posted is Sutter's Mill, right?  I don't think any were recovered there after the initial recovery period.

[fredmason]

put yours out in the weather for a few winters and watch it...that one is yours isn't it??

my Robert Haag Collection of Meteorites (photos) shows several types but no comments on weathering.

fred

[GeoJack]

CM2. We're working a claim that is within the strewn field and we have been looking, checking specific gravity also in case they show up in the sluice, but also wondered what changes might have taken place in appearance.

Fred, wife's find 8.5g, but was sold to Mr. Meteorite within a short period of time. We still have one but I don't want to alter it in any way.

Mike, our group scored big (8) on this fall but I know there are a bunch still out there.

[homefire]

LOL Looks like a Char Coal Brickett. 

[fredmason]

I was just kidding, Jack...I suspect that type would just fall apart after a wet winter....dry desert environs they probably last for years.

fred 

[GeoJack]

While the search was on we would tell people if their front teeth were not stained green from biting deer turds, they weren't looking hard enough.

[Tom Strutton]

If they look like this, I'll be doing the happy dance soon enough. I'd like to get my hands on an XRF spectrometer to see if it has any Ni content.

[munroney]

On 3/7/2017 at 4:06 PM, Mikestang said:

I think it depends greatly on what type of CC it is.  Like there are several weathered CV3s from NWA that look a lot like ordinary chondrites on the outside, but there's also very friable CCs like Tagish Lake that probably disintegrated after the first winter.

I think the one you posted is Sutter's Mill, right?  I don't think any were recovered there after the initial recovery period.

Why would Tagish lake disintegrate? I understand it’s friable but it’s also lacking metals which is usually the biggest factor in regards to weathering in wet climates.  Apparently Kainsaz CO in Russia looks similar to the day it fell.  My assumption is less metals-better preservation

[Mikestang]

Have you ever handled a piece?  It's almost like charcoal, it literally just falls apart.

[billpeters]

I hunted Tagish Lake the next summer for two weeks after the fall. I covered about 155 miles of hiking the shoreline of the lake. My technique was a narrow perpendicular grid pattern from lakeside to treeline slowly moving one lane down shore. I started after breakfast and never quit until about 9:30 p.m. daily. The tiaga forest was hopeless. A small nearby lake was also searched where original pieces were recovered. I found everything but Tagish Lake Meteorites.  I had float planed in and camped in a tent. 

I also hunted Sutter's Mill three months after the fall for 8 days with the same type of technique and found nothing. 

billpeters

[Jimale]

I sometimes use somersault when looking for meteorite, it works so well.