Including Original "Paul H. Letters" Copyright © 1996-2024 Paul V. Heinrich / website © 1996-2024 Dirk Ross - All rights reserved.



Thursday 30 December 2004

[OT] South African Rock and Mineral Dealer Needed

[OT] South African Rock and Mineral Dealer Needed

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 29 01:48:14 EST 2004

Dear Friends,

Is anyone on this list either a dealer in South
African rocks
and minerals; know of a South African dealer in rocks
and
minerals, whom I can contact; or have contacts with
South
African collectors. If so, could you contact me off
list.

I looking for specific rock type from South Africa for
research
purposes.

Direct or indirect participation in the successful
acquistion
of this material will be rewarded, in addition, to the

purchase of rock samples with unique trade material of

interest to list members. For more details, contact me
off
list.

Best Regards,

Paul

Sunday 26 December 2004

Mining Manicouagan impact crater

Mining Maricouagan

Paul H
bristolia at yahoo.com

Sat Dec 25 11:25:32 EST 2004

I found the below note in the otherwise dry
world of financial announcements.

Manicouagan Minerals Inc. announces closing of
its public offering and listing on the TSX
Venture Exchange
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2004/23/c8616.html

"The Corporation is engaged in the exploration of the
Manicouagan meteorite impact crater in central Quebec.

These efforts have been concentrated on seeking
prospective areas of nickel-copper-platinum group
mineralization. The Corporation believes that the
similarities between the Manicouagan crater and the
Sudbury mining district are of a significant enough
technical merit to warrant an extensive exploration
program. Less than 5% of the crater has been explored
to date and geophysical surveys have identified four
deep magnetotelluric anomalies, which are located
toward the center of the Manicouagan crater. The
Corporation has accumulated rights to claims
totalling in excess of 1,300 square kilometres in
the crater area."

Another news release, of November 2004, which I found
was:

"News release via Canada NewsWire, Toronto
416-863-9350
Attention Business Editors:
Manicouagan Minerals Inc. - Drill Results Provide
First Evidence of Nickel and Copper at Depth at the
Baie du Nord Project in the Manicouagan Crater"

This press release stated that in drill holes they
found nickel
and copper at depth consistent with base-metal rich
sulphide
mineralization, which occurs in surface outcrops
within the
Manicouagan impact crater. According to the press
release,
drilling found "significant" "base-metal values"
within
metagabbro sills intruded into foliated feldspar
hornblende
gneiss country rock.

It sounds someone has taken the idea of exploring for
impact
associated mineral deposits in "virgin" impact craters
quite
seriously. I guess only time will tell whether the
shares in
this company will become collectibles or prove to be
visionary
application of the study impact processes.

It seems like that known commercial base-metal
deposits
associated with impact craters were only determined to

be associated with an impact crater after the mineral
deposits
were found. Is this the first time that someone has
gone to
an impact crater with no known ore deposits and gone
prospecting for them since Barringer’s ill-fated
attempts
at Barringer Crater?

The official paperwork on it can be found at:

http://www.sedar.com/DisplayProfile.do?lang=EN&issuerType=03&issuerNo=00017383
http://www.sedar.com/DisplayCompanyDocuments.do?lang=EN&issuerNo=00017383

Best regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Saturday 25 December 2004

Re: Asteroid Gets Initial Elevated Risk Rating, ...(Asteroid 2004 MN4)

Re: Asteroid Gets Initial Elevated Risk Rating, ...(Asteroid 2004 MN4)

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Dec 24 23:5Ron Baalke quoted:

Asteroid gets initial elevated risk
rating, but impact unlikely
By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press
December 23, 2004

...text deleted...

Asteroid 2004 MN4, believed to be about 1,300 feet
long, potentially could impact Earth in 2029, based
on a limited number of initial sightings, said
Donald Yeomans, manager of the Near Earth Object
Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena."

I went to http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/ ,
and did some calculations.

Assuming an average projectile velocity of 17 km/s,
and 45 degree entry angle, the result for the impact
of a dense rock object of this size in sedimentary
rock is:

"Transient Crater Diameter: 4.95 km = 3.07 miles
Transient Crater Depth: 1.75 km = 1.09 miles

Final Crater Diameter: 6.13 km = 3.8 miles
Final Crater Depth: 0.511 km = 0.317 miles"

In case of an iron projectile, in sedimentary rock,
the result is:

"Transient Crater Diameter: 7.08 km = 4.4 miles
Transient Crater Depth: 2.5 km = 1.56 miles

Final Crater Diameter: 9.19 km = 5.71 miles
Final Crater Depth: 0.577 km = 0.358 miles"

If this hits land, someone will definitely have a bad
day and one hell of tourist attraction afterward.

Given its small "footprint", if the rock could be
directed to a specific piece of property, I image,
a lot of states could find a 80 square area they
would sacrifice as ground zero for its landing given
the unlimited tourist potential such a crater would
have.

Is there any way to figure out what sort of tsunami
a rock this size would cause?

Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA
4:09 EST 2004

Sunday 12 December 2004

Meteorite finds per state? (In Area Per Meteorite Found)

Meteorite finds per state? (In Area Per Meteorite Found)

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Sat Dec 11 21:39:23 EST 2004

In
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-December/147213.html
,
Frank Prochaska wrote:


>The size of the state (country, county, continent,

>etc.) is only one factor in how many meteorites

>are likely to be found there. Other factors

>include geography (flat, mountains), climate (dry,

>wet), land use (forest, farming), population (a

>few people per square mile, high population

>density), etc. These differences will also

>contribute to the ratios of falls to finds, etc.

>Below is a quick count from the latest Catalog

>of Meteorites (5th ed.). This data is about 5

>years old now, but is handy.


I found a listing of the area of each state in
"Land and Water Area of States, 2000 (in square
miles)" at:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108355.html
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0108355.html

Using the figures from XXX's post and the "total
land area present within each state, I get the
below number of meteorites per square mile for
each state. The order in which data is listed
is State; number of meteorites; (rank in total
area of state); land area in square miles;
(area in square miles per meteorite found).

Alabama 17 (30) 50,744 (2,985)
Alaska 3 (1) 571,951 (190,650)
Arizona 35 (6) 113,635 (3,247)
Arkansas 14 (29) 52,068 (3,719)
California 45 (3) 155,959 (3,464)

Colorado 73 (8) 103,717 (1,421)
Connecticut 4 (48) 4,845 (1,212)
Florida 4 (22) 53,927 (13,481)
Georgia 22 (24) 57,906 (2,632)
Hawaii 2 (43) 6,422 (3,211)

Idaho 6 (14) 82,747 (13,791)
Illinois 7 (25) 55,584 (7,940)
Indiana 12 (38) 35,866 (2,989)
Iowa 7 (26) 55,869 (7,981)
Kansas 133 (15) 81,814 (615)

Kentucky 26 (37) 39,728 (1,528)
Maine 5 (39) 30,861 (6,172)
Maryland 4 (42) 9,773 (2,443)
Massachusetts 1 (44) 7,840 (7,840)
Michigan 9 (11) 56,804 (6,311)

Minnesota 8 (12) 79,610 (9,951)
Mississippi 3 (32) 46,906 (15,635)
Missouri 20 (21) 68,886 (3,444)
Montana 5 (4) 145,552 (29,110)
Nebraska 46 (16) 76,872 (1,671)

Nevada 8 (7) 109,825 (13,728)
New Jersey 1 (47) 7,417 (7,417)
New Mexico 203 (5) 121,355 (598)
New York 11 (27) 47,213 (4,292)
North Carolina 29 (28) 48,710 (1,680)

North Dakota 10 (19) 68,976 (6,898)
Ohio 11 (34) 40,948 (3,722)
Oklahoma 37 (20) 68,667 (1,856)
Oregon 4 (9) 95,997 (23,999)
Pennsylvania 8 (33) 44,817 (5,602)

South Carolina 6 (40) 30,109 (5,018)
South Dakota 13 (17) 75,884 (5,837)
Tennessee 25 (36) 41,217 (1,649)
Texas 278 (2) 261,797 (942)
Utah 15 (13) 82,143 (5,476)

Virginia 12 (35) 39,594 (3,299)
Washington 6 (18) 66,544 (11,090)
West Virginia 3 (41) 24,078 (8,026)
Wisconsin 12 (23) 54,310 (4,526)
Wyoming 12 (10) 97,100 (8,091)

United States 1214 (n/a) 3,537,438 (2,913)

In 1990, there were three states with less
than 1,000 square miles per found meteorite.
They are New Mexico, Kansas, and Texas.

The states with less than 2,000 square miles
per found meteorite in 1990 were Connecticut,
Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, Nebraska, North
Carolina, and Oklahoma.


>This is supposed to total 1214 meteorites,

>though I could have missed one or two between

>the states. More have been found since 1999

>of course, particularly in the desert

>southwest.


This is true. Two have been found in
Louisiana, which now makes Louisiana entry
to be:

Louisiana 2 (31) 43,562 (21,781)

If there are now 13 known meteorites from
Wyoming then, it is now:

Wyoming 13 (10) 97,100 (7,469)

In
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-December/147215.html
,
Frank Prochaska also wrote:


>Dave is absolutely right! Look at the numbers

>for Kansas and Nebraska and then compare Iowa,


Kansas - 615 square miles per found meteorite
Nebraska - 1,671 square miles per found meteorite
Iowa - 7,981 square miles per found meteorite

Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Monday 29 November 2004

An Opportunity For Public Service, Profit, and Publicity

An Opportunity For Public Service, Profit, and Publicity

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Sun Nov 28 20:10:52 EST 2004

While looking around on the Internet, I
found an opportunitye for the meteorite
community to do a public service and, at
the same time possibly profit for their
contributions.

This ooportunity exists at the "Earth
Science World ImageBank" at:

http://www.earthscienceworld.org/imagebank/

"The Earth Science World ImageBank is a
service provided by the American Geological
Institute (AGI). This ImageBank is designed
to provide quality geoscience images to the
public, educators, and the geoscience
community."

First, the meteorite community could do a
public service by submitting representative
pictures of meteorites, tektites, impactites,
impact craters, meteorite thin sections,
and anything else related to meteorites. As
far as I found this database has only one
picture of a meteorite and no images of
tektites. It would certainly would be a
public service to contribute pictures of
meteorites and related items, which can be
used for educational purposes. I am using
the word "contribute" because the person
submitting the pictures still retains
copyright on it and can still require a
fee for any commercial use.

It would be a public service if a collection
of meteorite photographs could be submitted
to this web site that included an example
of each different type of meteorite and a
selection of pictures of historically
important falls. Also, pictures of craters,
meteorites as they are found in the field,
impactites, shocked belenmites, shocked
quartz, etc. would be an important
contribution.

Second, one feature of the image data bank
is that a person can permit the free use
of their images for specific educational
purposes and, yet, require people, who want
to use an image for commercial purposes,
pay them a set fee for each use of one of
their images. Thus, not only can a person
perform a public service by providing
images of meteorites, impact craters,
impactites, tektites, thin sections, and
so forth, they also can profit from an
image in the database, if someone wants
to use it for commercial purposes.

Finally, the people on this list should
note that the name of the person or company
hdoling teh copyright is displayed in the
database. This gives them some free publicity.
Also, if an image is used for educational
purposes, the database requests that the
proper credit be given to it. Again, the
contributors will get some more free
publicity whenever their image is used.

For details of how to contribute, go to:

http://www.earthscienceworld.org/imagebank/submit/index.html

"The Earth Science World ImageBank is
always looking to collect more high-
quality geoscience images for this
growing collection. The primary mission
of the ESWIB is to provide these images
to educators, the geoscience community,
and the public for non-commercial use.
Your contribution and assistance in
helping us develop this lasting resource
will not only benefit the scientific
community, but also help to enhance
Earth System education."

Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Thursday 25 November 2004

Alleged Picture of "Meteorite Photographed Hitting Earth"

Alleged Picture of "Meteorite Photographed Hitting Earth"

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Nov 24 20:29:28 EST 2004

In the thread "Meteorite Photographed Hitting The
Earth in Australia?" at:
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-November/146190.html

Mike Groetz asked:


>Good Afternoon- If someone finds a link to

>the photo - would you please post it?


For whatever a person might think it is worth, the
picture can found at:

Meteorite 'photographed' hitting Earth
By Nigel Adlam, news.com.au, November 24, 2004
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11483286%255E13762,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,398650,00.jpg

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tuesday 23 November 2004

My Eyes Are Glazing Over- Need "Scorecard"

My Eyes Are Glazing Over- Need "Scorecard"

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Nov 22 10:26:20 EST 2004

As someone, who is trying to follow this discussion,
my eyes are starting glaze over with NWA 1110 this;
NWA 2223 that; NWA 3133 is mine; NWA 3133 is not
yours; my NWA 1906 is real; your NWA 1906 is fake;
may the real NWA 788, NWA 787, or NWA 482,
please stand up. It is hard to search back through
the innumerable posts, given the lack of a search
engine specifically for the archives, to find out the
details behind each specific number is being talked
about.

At some point, it seems someone needs to provide
a "scorecard" of some sort, if it doesn't already
exist, about what each of these "players" (meteorites)

in the number game are about. It would help the soft
core, uninitiated lurkers better understand what is
the significance of NWA XXXX versus either
NWA YYYY or NWA YYXX.

As the posts go back and forth about these numbers,
I think of a song to the tune of "This Land is Your
Land" that starts out as "NWA 1110 is My number,
NWA 1110 is not your number from Uranus to Mercury…"
appearing at some point.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Saturday 20 November 2004

New Google Search Engine For Scholars

New Google Search Engine For Scholars

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 19 10:20:49 EST 2004

There is a new Google Search Engine called "Google
Scholar Beta". An article about is:

Google Adds Search Site for Scholars
TechNewsWorld, November 19, 2004.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/38289.html

It is suppose to help people find scholarly research on
Internet. The URL for this new search engine is:

http://scholar.google.com/


Best Regards,

Paul

Wednesday 10 November 2004

Crater question???

Crater question???

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Nov 9 23:05:43 EST 2004

Tom AKA James Knudson wrote;


>Hello List, It seems that every meteorite made

>crater was first thought to be volcanic,

>including the craters on the moon. We all know

>what Barringer had to go through to prove meteor

>crater was in fact a meteor made crater. If you

>compare the crater pictured in this link with the

>craters on page 152 in your rocks from space

>book, they look quite a bit a like. I am wondering

>if anyone ever searched for evidence of this crater

>being meteoric as apposed to volcanic? It would

>make a fine dinosaur killer!



>http://goafrica.about.com/library/gallery/afar/tanzania/blgallery-afar-tanzania1.htm


Geologists have studied the Ngorongoro Crater. It is a

caldera, a crater of volcanic origin. It is only 2.4
million years old.

Some publications about it are:

Gromme, C. S., Reilly, T. A., Mussett, A. E., and Hay,

R. L., 1971, Palaeomagnetism and potassium-argon ages
of volcanic rocks of Ngorongoro Caldera, Tanzania.
Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 101-115.

Searle, R. C., 1972, A Gravity Survey of Ngorongoro
Caldera, Tanzania. Bulletin Volcanologique. vol. 35,
no. 2, pp. 350-357.

Walter, R. C., Manega, P. C., Farmer, G. L., and Hart,

W. K., 1990, Geochemical and temporal constraints on
magma genesis of the Ngorongoro volcanic highland,
Tanzania. Seventh international conference on
Geochronology, cosmochronology and isotope geology;
abstracts volume. Abstracts - Geological Society of
Australia. voll. 27, pp. 108.

What I would like to know, is what ever came of the
huge, crater-like feature found by seismic surveys
buried beneath the continental shelf of Columbia.
Before the Chixulub Crater was recognized, a number
of people thought that it might be the site of a
Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary impact.

Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tuesday 19 October 2004

Question about Comets, Shock Waves, and Craters

Question about Comets, Shock Waves, and Craters

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 19 15:28:53 EDT 2004

I have come across an idea with people,
while engaged in the discussion of geology,
which claims that when a comet disintegrates,
it can produce some type of "shock wave" that
can impact the ground in a way as to produce
a crater. Although the person will claim that
this is scientifically possible, he or she can't
produce a detailed physical model about
how this actually happens.

Has anyone published any type of physical
model about how the disintegration /
explosion / aerial detonation of a comet
can produce "shock waves" / "jets" capable
of producing craters? Is there any reality
to this idea? Or is this all techno babble
of the type that a person hears in "Star
Trek" and other science fiction, used to
justify scientifically impossible plot devices?


Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tandem Meteorites and Superimposed Craters- Fact or Fiction?

Tandem Meteorites and Superimposed Craters- Fact or Fiction?

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 19 15:24:09 EDT 2004

Occasionally. I have seen people speculate
about what are called "tandem meteorites".
As defined by these people, these are
meteorites that follow right behind each
other, and when they impact on Earth,
they create craters within craters. Is there
any documented example of a meteorite
following a meteorite impacting in such
a way to create superimposed craters
within craters? What about producing
a smaller crater within a larger crater
being produced this way?

Is this idea just someone's vivid imagination?

Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Thursday 30 September 2004

New Tektite Paper in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

New Tektite Paper in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

Paul H
Thu Sep 30 14:51:08 EDT 2004

A new paper about tektites was published in the
October 1st, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. It is:

Glass, B. P., Huber, H., and Koeberl,C., 2004,
Geochemistry of Cenozoic microtektites and
clinopyroxene-bearing spherules. Geochimica
et Cosmochimica Acta. vol. 68, no. 19,
pp. 3807-4021.

Best regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tuesday 21 September 2004

1864: fiction or fact? help! - Crater Estimator Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com

1864: fiction or fact? help! - Crater Estimator

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 21 15:00:31 EDT 2004

Chris aubeck wrote:


>As I wish to present this story as a stage in the

>development of meteorite-related myths and

>misidentifications through history, as part of a

>report with wholly educational aims, it would be

>interesting to know whether a scientist working in

the

>mid-19th century would have spotted this fake

>immediately, and how.

>

>Also, how big would the crater of such a large

>meteorite be? Is there a way to estimate it?


Go look at "Earth Impact Effects Program" by
Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins at:

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Friday 17 September 2004

Use of Meteorites in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Reviewed

Use of Meteorites in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life Reviewed

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 17 16:11:30 EDT 2004

The use of meteorites in the search for
extraterrestrial
life is reviewed in:

van Loon, A. J., in press, The needless search
for extraterrestrial fossils on Earth.
Earth-Science Reviews
Corrected Proof ,Available online 26 August 2004

The abstract can be found by going to:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00128252

and clicking the "Article in Press" link.

According to the abstract, the author argues that
using meteorite to detect extraterrestrial life
most likely is a waste of time.

(NOTE: I am just paraphrasing what is said in the
abstract. His opinions, in way reflect my views.
If you have any complaints about what is said in
the abstract, direct them to the author, not me.)

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Review of Pseudotachylites Published in Earth-Science Reviews

Review of Pseudotachylites Published in Earth-Science Reviews

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 17 16:09:17 EDT 2004

Their a new review paper on the emplacement of
breccias in impact craters. It is:

Dressler, B. O., and Reimold, W. U., 2004, Order
or chaos? Origin and mode of emplacement of
breccias in floors of large impact structures.
Earth-Science Reviews. vol. 67, no. 1-2,
pp. 1-54. (September 2004)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00128252

This paper provides a detailed review of the
origin of pseudotachylites (sensu largo), i.e.
authigenic monomict and polymict clastic-matrix
breccias, so-called footwall breccias, and
impact melt breccias".

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Impact Melt Flows Recognized at Ries structure, Germany

Impact Melt Flows Recognized at Ries structure, Germany

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 17 16:08:18 EDT 2004

The presence of impact melt flows at the
Ries crater in Germany is proposed in:

Osinski, G. R., in press, Impact melt rocks
from the Ries structure, Germany: an origin
as impact melt flows? Earth and Planetary
Science Letters. Corrected Proof ,Available
online 11 September 2004

The abstract can be found by going to:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0012821X

and clicking the "Article in Press" link.

In part the abstract concluded:

" Thus, it is proposed that the Ries impact
melt rocks were emplaced as ground-hugging
impact melt flows that emanated from different
regions of the evolving transient cavity during
the modification stage of crater formation…
This represents the first recognition of
impact melt flows near the rim of a terrestrial
impact structure and is consistent with
observations of such features on the Moon
and Venus."

Also, a person can look at: "IMPACT MELT
ROCKS FROM THE RIES IMPACT STRUCTURE,
GERMANY: PRELIMINARY RESULTS O F AN
ANALYTICAL SEM STUDY." at:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2003/pdf/1719.pdf

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tuesday 7 September 2004

Shuttles Safe - VAB and Tile Facility Heavily Damaged by Francis

Shuttles Safe - VAB and Tile Facility Heavily Damaged by Francis

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 7 09:56:02 EDT 2004

Shuttle space centre surveys hurricane damage
12:17 07 September 04, NewScientist.com news service
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996361

"All three remaining space shuttles weathered
Hurricane
Frances without apparent damage, after the cyclone
weakened before hitting the Florida coast south of
Cape Canaveral. But the massive Vehicle Assembly
Building
(VAB) took heavy damage."

The Shuttle Tile Facility was heavily damaged.


Frances tears panels from NASA shuttle hangar
Monday, September 6, 2004
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/06/nasa.frances.cnn/

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Monday 6 September 2004

OT - Old Soviet Joke About Free Speech (was "GWB and Meteorites")

OT - Old Soviet Joke About Free Speech (was "GWB and Meteorites")

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Sep 6 01:59:12 EDT 2004

The discussion about Mike Farmer and
his comments about President Bush
reminded a Russian friend of mine, who
grew up in the Soviet Union and then
spent the time after 1991 living in
the Ukraine, which wasn't governed much
differently than the Soviet Union, of
a joke shared among close friends
during Soviet times.

An American businessman was chatting
to a Soviet official over an exchange
of vodka after negotiating a trade deal.
After several shots, they got a little
chummy and the American businessman
politely mused that, the Soviet Union
desperately needed freedom of speech.

In fact", the businessman stated, "In
the United States, if I don't like what
the President of the United States is
doing, I can stand on the steps of the
White House and call him a "SOB" and
nothing will happen to me.

Don't insult us", replied the official,
passing the American another shot glass
of vodka, "We also have freedom of speech
in the Soviet Union. I can stand on the
steps of the Kremlin and also call the
President of the United States an "SOB"
and nobody will do anything to me."

Best Regards,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Fate of Space Shuttles Unknown

Fate of Space Shuttles Unknown

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Sep 6 00:34:38 EDT 2004

Fate of Space Shuttles Unknown


Kennedy Space Center: Shuttles' fate
unknown. Florida Today, Sunday,
September 05, 2004

http://www.floridatoday.com/blogs/centralbrevard/2004/09/kennedy-space-center-shuttles-fate.htm

"The fate of NASA's multibillion-dollar
space shuttle fleet remains an open
question.

NASA recovery teams will reopen Kennedy
Space Center Monday and begin to tally
damage done at the agency's coastal
Florida spaceport. High winds from the
easternmost edge of Hurricane Frances
made it too dangerous to send teams in
to KSC on Sunday."

++++++

Posted on Sun, Sep. 05, 2004
While many evacuated, one family faced
Frances in barrier island home,
by BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/9591232.htm

"Outside, winds pick up even stronger.
They hear on the radio that Cape
Canaveral a couple miles to the north
is measuring 125 mph winds."

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Friday 3 September 2004

Hurricane Francis Threatens Space Shuttles

Hurricane Francis Threatens Space Shuttles

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 3 11:52:56 EDT 2004

"Hurricane Frances could destroy space shuttles"
NewScientist.com news service, 11:13 03 September 04
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996354

"But those preparations may not be enough to keep the
shuttles safe, says Olander. The roof of the building
housing
the craft was designed to survive winds of only 170
km/h
(105 mph).

"If it goes over the Cape, it's going to destroy
everything,"
says Olander. A big building like that has a lot of
surface
area and if it's only meant to sustain a category two
storm,
[Frances] is going to blow that thing apart.""

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Monday 30 August 2004

Major Extrasolar Planets Discovery

Major Extrasolar Planets Discovery

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Aug 30 20:18:21 EDT 2004

Extrasolar Planets Discovered

Kathleen Burton Aug. 30, 2004

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-1731 or 604-9000
E-mail: Kathleen.M.Burton at nasa.gov

NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS: News
media representatives are invited to view
live televised coverage and commentary of
a major extra-solar discovery announcement
on Tuesday, Aug. 31, at 10 a.m. PDT. The
coverage will be broadcast live from NASA
Headquarters in Washington on NASA
Television and can be viewed in the lobby
of the N-201 auditorium at NASA Ames
Research Center, located in California's
Silicon Valley. Following the briefing,
Dr. Jack Lissauer, a NASA Ames planetary
scientist, will be available for interviews.
NASA Television can be seen on AMC- 6,
Transponder 9 located at 72 degrees west
longitude with 3880.0 MHz. vertical
polarization and audio at 6.8 MHz.

RELEASE: 04-79AR
NASA TO ANNOUNCE MAJOR DISCOVERY OF NEW PLANETS

A team of planet hunters will announce its
discovery of a new class of planets located
beyond our solar system at a NASA Science
Update at 10 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
The discovery represents a significant and
much-anticipated advance in the hunt for
extra-solar planets.

Panelists include:

-- Dr. Geoffrey Marcy, University of California,
Berkeley;
-- Dr. R. Paul Butler, Department of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington;
-- Dr. Barbara McArthur, University of Texas, Austin;
-- Dr. Alan Boss, staff research astronomer,
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie
Institution of Washington;
-- Dr. Anne Kinney, moderator, director, Universe
Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA,
Washington.

The news conference will be carried live on
NASA Television, with two-way question-and-
answer capability from participating NASA
centers. The event also will be Webcast live
at:

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/webcasts/ssu_0804.html

Also, last Wednesday the European Southern
Observatory announced the discovery of a 14
Earth-mass extrasolar planet ...

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-22-04.html

The following paper appeared on the
astrophysics preprint server ...

http://cul.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408471

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tuesday 24 August 2004

Could A Meteorite or Comet Cause All The Fires of 1871?

Could A Meteorite or Comet Cause All The Fires of 1871?

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Aug 24 12:26:49 EDT 2004

In Could A Meteorite or Comet Cause All The Fires of
1871?
http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-August/143245.html
Sterling K. Webb wrote:

"These strange fires were not restricted
to the IL-WI-MI triangle centered around
the southern end of Lake Michigan. Because
of the slowness of communication in 1871,
it was not immediately recognized that the
fires of October 8, 1871 were scattered
over parts of seven states and Canada and
may have caused as many as 10,000 deaths."

I would be interested to know where the claim that the

fire actually started in seven states and Canada
simultaneously. From what I seen written in well-
researched books on the 1871 fire, i.e. "Michigan On
Fire" by Betty Sodders in 1997, the fact of the matter
is that fires outside IL-WI-MI area were occurring and

started well before October 8 and had been occurring
all Fall because of the hot and dry weather that had
created a drought that was devastating in its own
right.
If a person looks at the historical record, he or she
would find that it is an absolute misrepresentation of

it in stating that these fires all started
simultaneously
with the October 8 fire. The so-called "instantaneous"
/
"simultaneous" nature of the fire, from what I have
seen, is pure fiction created by shoddy research and
wishful thinking on the part of advocates of the comet

impact theory, who seem to be rather ill-informed of
the actual chronology of forest fires in 1871.

For example, a person can read "The Fire that
Destroyed
Holland, Michigan" at:

http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/holland%20fire/hollandfire1.html

In terms of the so-called "simultaneous" nature of the
1871 fire, the web page noted:

"There had already been a threat of danger
earlier in the week. Fires kept smoldering
and burned barns and houses, but the danger
seemed to be far from the city. Then on
Sunday, October 9, there were reports that
a threatening forest fire was coming."

and

"The community at the time was populated with
2400 residents and for many days previous,
these residents had battled and beaten many
small fires that had erupted throughout the
town."

It is quite clear that fires were starting within the
area of the 1871 fire days, even weeks, before October
8.
The fire of 1871 simply didn't magically appear on
October
8, 1871 out of nowhere but was preceded by numerous
smaller fires days, even weeks, before it occurred.

Even more interesting comments about the 1871 fire
can be found in "History & Ecology of Fire in Michigan

Wildland Fire In Michigan". at:

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10367_11851-24038--,00.html

This web page stated:

"It was not a single fire but a combination
of hundreds of fires, small and large, that
had been burning unattended for weeks, only
to flare up and unite when conditions became
acute."

This statement totally demolishes the case for a
meteorite or comet, as the 1871 didn't start on Oct.
8,
1871. Rather the "1871 fire" on October 8 occurred
when
it exploded into a firestorm when fires only after
burning
for days, even weeks, before that date. Oct 8 was
simply
the point that these fires, as they coalesced,
exceeded
the critical mass needed to explode into massive
firestorm.

The historical record also clearly demonstrates the
source of these fires. For example, the "History &
Ecology of Fire in Michigan Wildland Fire In Michigan"

web page stated:

"Set carelessly or by settlers in clearing
land, fires burned everywhere, and ran
uncontrolled into the woods and swamps
where they continued to smolder."

Also, the "The Fire that Destroyed Holland, Michigan"
web page stated:

"In the fall of 1871, the ground was very
dry after the long summer. The summer had
been very hot and dry and some areas hadn't
had rain since June. In Holland, fires
began in the piles of sawdust, waste wood,
and finished lumber in the yards of the
city's several sawmills, and the winds
quickly spread the flames throughout the
town. The small spark ignited the piles
of wood and spread to become one of
Michigan's most widespread forest fire."

These quotes point out the fact that that Michigan was
having problems with outbreaks of smaller fires, weeks

before October 8. The fire simply didn't magically,
simultaneously start on that date, but rather
innumerable
small fires, which had been burning for weeks before
October 8, came together on that date. The fact that
smaller fires were burning many days prior to October
8
refutes the claim that everything simultaneously burst

into flame on that date and the so-called anomalous
nature of the fire. It is quite obvious that long
before
October 8, this region was having major problems with
outbreaks of multiple, ongoing fires.

The "History & Ecology of Fire in Michigan Wildland
Fire In Michigan" stated:

"Michigan was extensively logged toward the
end of the 19th century. The White Pine that
had once covered Michigan was cut, followed
by the hardwood forests, and large expanses
of slash (the branches and other debris left
after logging) were left behind. Many areas
were cleared for farming, and the vegetation
was burned to dispose of it. Several catastrophic
fires resulted from the indiscriminate burning
of slash following logging and land clearing
for agriculture."

and

"In the summer of 1871, a drought occurred over
much of the Great Lakes region. Slash and debris
from logging and land clearing became tinder-dry
during the months without rain. From early
August no rain fell, pastures and gardens dried
up, wells went dry, streams shrank to a mere
trickle, and crops failed."

These conditions, i.e. the abundance of fuel, created
by
careless logging techniques and forest land
management;
the hot and dry weather and massive drought; and the
careless use of fire to clear land made for an ideal
situation for the development of a catastrophic fire.

In fact, a fire similar in magnitude to the 1871 fire
occurred tens years later in September of 1881 in the
Thumb area of Michigan. It was more serve, caused more

damage, and made more people to be homeless than the
1871 fire.

About the 1881 fire, the "History & Ecology of Fire in

Michigan Wildland Fire In Michigan" stated:

"Like the 1871 fire, the fire of 1881 came
at the end of an extremely severe drought
and was the result of hundreds of land-clearing
fires whipped into a seething cauldron of flame
by high winds."

This discussion reminds me of a "mysterious" sinking
of the Sandra that allegedly sank in a calm sea
without
any distress signal as described by Charles Berlitz in

his book "The Bermuda Triangle". When Larry Kusche
looked into this disappearance, he found that the ship

was half as long as the book stated and it disappeared

in the middle of a hurricane. In this case, as in the
1871 fires, the mystery disappears when the
misinformation and folklore is replaced by documented
facts.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Friday 20 August 2004

re: antarctic impact

re: antarctic impact

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Aug 20 13:56:06 EDT 2004

Marco Langbroek wrote:


>If these craters indeed are impact craters and

>0.8 Ma old, that's interesting. Even without

>this new findings there's evidence for multiple

>cratering events around 0.8 Ma. Apart from the

>australasian tektites, there's Darwin crater,

>and there are the Tikal tektites from meso-America.


The Tikal tektites are indeed interesting as they
have been dated at 800,000+/-100,000 and overlap
in composition with Australasian tektites. It does get
more and more curious.

Tikal tektite references

Nagy, H. M.,2002, Tikal Report 27B: The Artifacts
of Tikal : Utilitarian Artifacts and Unworked
Material, University of Pennsylvania Museum
Publication,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hildebrand, A. R., Moholy-Nagy, H., Koeberl, C.,
May, L., and others, 1994, Tektites found in the
ruins of the Maya city of Tikal, Guatemala. Lunar
and Planetary Science, vol. 77, pp. 213-219.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

re: antarctic impact

re: antarctic impact

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Aug 20 13:55:57 EDT 2004

Marco Langbroek wrote:


>If these craters indeed are impact craters and

>0.8 Ma old, that's interesting. Even without

>this new findings there's evidence for multiple

>cratering events around 0.8 Ma. Apart from the

>australasian tektites, there's Darwin crater,

>and there are the Tikal tektites from meso-America.


The Tikal tektites are indeed interesting as they
have been dated at 800,000+/-100,000 and overlap
in composition with Australasian tektites. It does get
more and more curious.

Tikal tektite references

Nagy, H. M.,2002, Tikal Report 27B: The Artifacts
of Tikal : Utilitarian Artifacts and Unworked
Material, University of Pennsylvania Museum
Publication,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hildebrand, A. R., Moholy-Nagy, H., Koeberl, C.,
May, L., and others, 1994, Tektites found in the
ruins of the Maya city of Tikal, Guatemala. Lunar
and Planetary Science, vol. 77, pp. 213-219.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Thursday 19 August 2004

Paleocene-Eocene (P-E) Boundary Impact Disputed

Paleocene-Eocene (P-E) Boundary Impact Disputed

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Thu Aug 19 12:48:31 EDT 2004

A recent paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters
disputes interpretations that argue that a major comet
impact caused global climatic changes, which coincides
with the Paleocene-Eocene (P-E) Boundary. Instead,
this
paper, Schmitz et al. (2004) concluded:

" The environmental perturbations at the Paleocene-
Eocene boundary appear to have been triggered by
basaltic volcanism, but any model for the detailed
causal relation remains speculative."

The paper is:

Schmitz, B., Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B., Heilmann-Clausen,

C., Aberg, G., Asaro, F., and Lee, C-T. A. 2004,
Basaltic explosive volcanism, but no comet impact,
at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary: high-resolution
chemical and isotopic records from Egypt, Spain and
Denmark. Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
vol. 225, no. 1-2, pp. 1-17 (30 August 2004)

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Regional Deforestation Associated with Australasian Tektite Fall??

Regional Deforestation Associated with Australasian Tektite Fall??

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Thu Aug 19 12:47:54 EDT 2004

A recent paper, Haines et al. (2004), described
fluvial flood deposits containing abundant "abundant
organic debris, including whole tree trunks and
mammal bones", that its authors interpret to be
"the effects of regional deforestation, increased
run off and erosion, and other environmental
disruptions expected in the aftermath of a major
impact event."

The article is:

Haines, P. W., Howard, K. T., Ali, J. R., Burrett,
C. F., and Bunopas, S., 2004, Flood deposits
penecontemporaneous with ~0.8 Ma tektite fall in
NE Thailand: impact-induced environmental effects?
Earth and Planetary Science Letters. vol. 225, no.
1-2, pp. 19-28 (30 August 2004)

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Saturday 14 August 2004

Source Stratum of Georgia Tektites Possibly Found

Source Stratum of Georgia Tektites Possibly Found

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Sat Aug 14 13:52:19 EDT 2004

The latest issue of Geology (Geological
Society of America) has a paper about
the identification of grains of shocked
quartz in a sand bed within Upper Eocene
strata of Georgia. The paper argued that
they might be from the Chesapeake Bay
Impact and occur within in the source
layer for Georgia tektites.

The article is:

Duncan, M. S., Albin, E. F., Harris, R. S.,
Roden M. F., Schroeder, P. A., Holland,
S. M. 2004, Upper Eocene impact horizon in
east-central Georgia. Geology. vol. 32,
no. 8, pp. 717-720.

http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-toc&issn=0091-7613&volume=32&issue=8

In part, the abstract stated:

"We report the discovery of shocked quartz
grains in upper Eocene sediments from the
Coastal Plain of east-central Georgia. ...
These grains were collected from a sand
layer near the base of the Twiggs Clay
Member of the Dry Branch Formation and
most likely are ejecta from the Chesapeake
Bay impact, which occurred between 35.7 and
36.0 Ma. ... This horizon could represent
the source stratum for the Georgia tektites ..."

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Thursday 12 August 2004

Explorers Find UFO Fragments in Tunguska Meteorite Area

Explorers Find UFO Fragments in Tunguska Meteorite Area

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Thu Aug 12 10:03:47 EDT 2004

Ron Baalke wrote:

"
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/13705_tunguska.html
Explorers find

UFO fragments in Tunguska meteorite area
Pravda.Ru (Russia) August 10, 2004

...text deleted...

"Members of the scientific expedition of
the Siberian state foundation Tunguska Space
Phenomenon say they have managed to uncover
blocks of an extraterrestrial technical device.
The space body, which was later called the
Tunguska meteorite, fell down on Earth on June
30th 1908, 65 kilometers off the Vanavara
settlement, the Evenkiya republic."

My wife, who from Russia, cautions the readers of this

list to take what is written in modern Pravada with
considerable amount of skepticism. From her
experience,
it isn't much different from the Parvada of Soviet
times.


>From what I have seen, it has the habit of publishing

various unverified and sensationalist news stories
with
a large content of junk science that would be at home
in New Age magazines, i.e. "Atlantis Rising", which
regularly publish poorly written articles about
various types of junk science. i.e. Antarctic being
the site of Atlantis and Hindu Old Earth creationism.

An example of such an article is " "Black Holes"
Devour People", which was published in Pravada on
April 26,2 004. It can found at:

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/12624_Holes.html

A paragraph from this article reads:

" "I blame the so-called "black holes" for
disappearance of people", says Jane Lindsett,
Professor, California University, San Francisco.
"Periodically, time and space on Earth refract,
and entire cities may find themselves in a different
dimension, which sometimes "spits them out".
There are scores of such "black holes " on Earth,
and people frequently get in them. A decade ago,
a 36-year-old Lydia Kimfield, Androver (Texas),
disappeared during her visit to the doctor. An
hour later her body was found one thousand
kilometers away from the city. An autopsy showed
that she had died two months earlier! In the
state of New Mexico there is a road on which 19
people disappeared without a trace, the last
case being in 1997. The road runs across the
desert, which can be observed from air. The
vanished people might have been carried over
to the ocean or woods where they perished.
Objects cannot travel across space, that's why
ships were found vacated, but the belongings
of those who disappeared were in place"."

Other examples of junk science published in Prvada
are:

Taking Photographs of the Past is Possible: A
scientist
from the Russian city of Voronezh invented a camera
for
that 18:50 2003-02-17
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2003/02/17/43424.html
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/13657_ghost.html

Anomalous ground holes appear in the Russian province
Ufologists suppose, aliens land on Earth to take
ground
samples 08/03/2004 18:27
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/13614_aliens.html
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/

Sexual contacts with aliens occur frequently: Aliens
take samples of semen and ovule from human abductees
for their genetic experiments 08/04/2004 18:15
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/378/13623_aliens.html

UFO Prevents Blast at Chernobyl Nuclear Plant
Eyewitnesses say that they saw an UFO hovering above
the
exploded reactor 16:15 2002-09-16
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/16/36691.html

3-D Map of the Earth created 120 millions of years
ago.
On-line press conference with Alexandr Chuvyrov 14:48
2002-04-30
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/30/28149.html
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/05/30/29507.html

Atlantis Under Antarctica? 13:00 2002-12-02
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/12/02/40228.html

Atlantis Will Be Found: Russian researchers have held
the Second Congress of Atlantis Explorers in Moscow
05/26/2003 11:19
http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/10080_atlantis.html

These articles provide examples of the complete lack
of any
vetting for junk science by Pravada in what it
publishes.
Thus, a person should have a healthy skepticism of
what in
the way of the various "science" articles is published
in it.

Finally, a person might want to note that Lenin still
appears
on the banner at the top of its page, which says much
about
it philosophy and how it has changed since Soviet
times.

http://english.pravda.ru/images/06.gif

Yorus,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

P.S. For some interesting off-topic news, a person can
go to:

Cat pounces on pilot mid-flight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3551672.stm

Tuesday 10 August 2004

Review Paper on Chondrules Published in EPSL

Review Paper on Chondrules Published in EPSL

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Aug 10 10:37:56 EDT 2004

Dear Friends,

the latest issue of Earth and Planetary Science
Letters
has a review article about chondrules. it is:

Zanda, B., 2004, Chondrules. Earth and Planetary
Science Letters. vol. 224, no 1-2 , Pages 1-17
(30 July 2004)

The abstract ends:

"The current most popular mechanisms for forming
chondrules in a nebular setting are radiation
emitted by the protosun in the X-wind setting
or shock waves propagated in the protoplanetary
disk. In the latter case, chondrule formation
may have contributed to the first stages of
accretion, which would have helped preserve the
chemical complementarity between chondrules and
matrix. It is important that the chemical and
isotopic properties, and even the petrology,
of chondrules be reassessed in order to allow
the development of chondrule formation models
that better fit these constraints."

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Sunday 8 August 2004

Fireball Crashes Into Desert East of Bullhead City, Nevada

Fireball Crashes Into Desert East of Bullhead City, Nevada

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 8 23:05:47 EDT 2004

Dear Friends,

While talking with a friend in Nevada, he mentioned
that he heard a report of a firball crashing into
the desert near Bullhead City, Nevada. He joked that
I should come look for meteorites there instead of
Louisiana.

Unfortunately, all I could find were some fragments
of text about it on the Internet. What I could find
was:

"Sky explosion investigated; airplane blowup ruled
out"
August 7, 2004, Mohave Valley News, Mohave Valley
News, NV

"Fire Marshal Jim Dykens said the reporting party
met with authorities and said they saw what
appeared to an airplane exploding and crashing in
the desert east of the city."

"It was also reported the explosion was followed
by three smaller bursts"

They have searched for plane wreckage and found
none. If they were looking for plane wreckage, not
meteorites, they have very well overlooked anything
that was out there.

I guess if people wanted some more specific
information, they could contact the Fire Marshal
named above.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Friday 23 July 2004

Popigai Impactor Indentified

Popigai Impactor Indentified

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 23 14:08:09 EDT 2004

This week's issue of Science has a short paper, which
argues that a L-chondrite meteorite made the Popigai
crater in Russia. The citation is;

Tagle, R., and Claeys, P., 2004, Comet or Asteroid
Shower in the Late Eocene? Science. vol. 305,
no. 5683., pp. 492.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/305/5683/492

Popigai Impact Structure
http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/images/popigai.html

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Yanshan meteorite crater

Yanshan meteorite crater

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 23 09:26:34 EDT 2004

I couldn't find any information about a "Yanshan
meteorite crater". Apparently, it is the "Yanshan
meteorite" as possibly discussed by Alexander Seidel
at:

http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-July/142637.html


What I found on the web was:

1. Xifengite at:
http://webmineral.com/data/Xifengite.shtml
http://www.mindat.org/locentry-5890.html

"Innermost in spheres, surrounded by nickel-iron
minerals and their oxidation products, apparently
of extraterrestrial origin, found in placers."

and 2. Gupeiite at:
http://webmineral.com/data/Gupeiite.shtml
http://www.mindat.org/locentry-5890.html

"Innermost in spheres, surrounded by nickel-iron
minerals and their oxidation products, apparently
of extraterrestrial origin, found in placers."

Some references for both minerals that I found are:

Dunn, P. J., Chao, G. Y., Fitzpatrick, J. J.,
Langley, R. H., Fleischer, M., and Zilczer,
J. A., 1986, New mineral names. American
Mineralogist. vol. 71, no. 1-2, pp. 227-232.
(February 1986)

Generalov, Mikhail and Naumov, Vladimir, 1996,
Iron-chromium carbides and iron silicides from
gold-platinum-bearing placer of the Urals (Russia).
Congres Geologique International, Resumes
(30th) [International Geological Congress,
Abstracts] vol. 30, no.2, pp. 447

Zuxian, Y., 1984, Two new minerals gupeiite and
xifengite in cosmic dusts from Yanshan. Yen
Kuang Tse Shih. [Acta Petrologica Mineralogica
et Analytica] vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 231-238
(September 1984)

Zuxian, Y., 1986, Some new minerals from platinum-
bearing rocks in Yanshan and Tibet regions, China.
Dizhi Yanjiuso Sokan [Bulletin of the Institute
of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences]
vol. 2, no. 15, pp. 49-57.

It appears that these minerals were first found in
"cosmic dust" (Dunn et al. 1986 and Zuxian 1984) and
later found in platinum-bearing rocks and placers
(Zuxian 1986 and Generalov and Vladimir 1996).

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Wednesday 21 July 2004

Where Were You When It Happened 35 Years Ago?

Where Were You When It Happened 35 Years Ago?

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 21 09:15:43 EDT 2004

Some 35 years ago, I was with my family at my
grandmother's house in Falmouth (Cape Cod), MA. There,
I watched the first step on the Moon with my whole
family, two parents and five kids, and my Mom's mother
gathered around the television. It was a bit surreal watching
the first step on the Moon live on television. (It was one
thing that science fiction writers apparently failed
to predicted.) Afterward, my grandmother talked about
how she felt when she first read about the Wright
Brother's flight. It was was weird to think about her
having seen it all from the Wright Brothers to Neil
Armstrong.

Before it, I had been following the entire space
program and watching almost every televised launch of a
manned- space vehicle and even launches of unmanned vehicles.
My mother would arrange with teachers to either let me

leave school for an hour or so to be home to watch a
manned launch or watch the launch at school on
television.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Tuesday 20 July 2004

Flaming Pigeons Source of Egyptian Fireball Reports (?)15JUL04

Flaming Pigeons Source of Egyptian Fireball Reports (?)

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 20 17:32:23 EDT 2004

In "Fireball (sic) story from Egypt July 15" it was
written:


>> Dear All,

>> Does anybody hear abouth an event in the south

>> of Egypt where about 100 houses were burnt

>> due to fireballs falling on roofs and inflaming

>>the >> houses? >> Here is news report in Russian:

>> http://www.newsru.com/world/15jul2004/shar.html

>> Of course, maybe it is distortion by mass-media,

>>but anyway...

>> Best wishes,

>> Andrei Ol'khovatov


I found this version of the Egyptian Fireball Story

"Blazes in Egypt start "balls of fire" rumors
Reuters, Sun Jul 18,12:31 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=5706645
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=857&ncid=757&e=10&u=/nm/20040718/od_uk_nm/oukoe_odd_fire

"CAIRO (Reuters) - A series of fires in the southern
Egyptian province of Sohag has destroyed some 160
houses, giving rise to rumors that spirits are at
work or mysterious balls of fire are falling from
the sky, a local official SAYS.

But the causes are mundane -- kerosene stoves,
cigarette butts and electrical short circuits,
Brigadier Ezzat Aboul Kassem told Reuters on
Sunday. Flaming pigeons, their feathers set
alight in the blazes, may explain talk of
balls of fire, he added."

""Investigations have shown that there are burned
pigeons on top of some of the burned houses and
it's probable that they fell there after catching
fire at other houses," he said. "Maybe that
explains the rumors of balls of fire falling
from the sky.""

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Where Were You When It Happened 35 Years Ago.?

Where Were You When It Happened 35 Years Ago.?

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 20 01:08:21 EDT 2004

The questions are: "Where were you when
Neil Armstrong first stepped out on the
Moon 35 years ago?" "Where did you watch
it and with whom?"

35 Years Ago Tuesday Men First Stepped Foot on the
Moon
By My Wise County, My Wise County, Virginia
http://www.mywisecounty.com/news/071904-2.htm

First walk on the moon remembered 35 years later
CTV, Canada
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1090020187109_3?hub=SciTech


Commentary: US remains lost in space
By Martin Sieff, United Press International
Published 7/19/2004 5:30 PM
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040719-045828-8640r


Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Monday 19 July 2004

Mysterious Rosicrucian Meteorite - What Was It?

Mysterious Rosicrucian Meteorite - What Was It?

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Jul 19 20:08:19 EDT 2004

I was searching through Google News Search Engine to
see if I could find anything more about the story of
the alleged fireball that set fire to the vollage in Egypt.
Instead the keywords "Egypt" and "meteorite" gave
me the following article:

"Rosicrucians make pilgrimage to San Jose"
Biloxi Sun Herald, MS, Jul. 03, 2004
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/9075308.htm.

Talking about the Rosicrucians' headquarters, it
stated:

"For generations of San Joseans, it's
an eclectic theme park incongruously
set in an otherwise ordinary neighborhood
of leafy streets and picturesque homes.
Its onion-domed planetarium, statue of
Pharaoh Thutmose III, 60-foot obelisk
and Egyptian-style buildings with
hieroglyphs and columns recall school-
day field trips."

Talking about children taking these fieldtrips, it
stated:

"Later, as adults, they may have strolled
its lush gardens or read about the mystery
of the missing 209-pound meteorite. (The
exhibit, which had been on display 40
years, was stolen by a former security
contractor and never found.)"

A 209 pound meteorite sounds like an awfully large
meteorite to have disappeared into thin air.

Does anyone know about the history of this meteorite
as to where it was found, type of meteorite, when
it was stolen, and so forth?

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Wednesday 7 July 2004

Loaves and fishiness

Loaves and fishiness

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 7 22:51:57 EDT 2004

Marc D. Fries wrote:


>I'm rather intrigued with Shirokovsky.


Yes, I agree, it is an interesting X-File type of
object. I might track down some metallurgists,
whom I know, to see what they have to say. Also, my
Russian wife can translate into and type letters
in Russian on my Russified Mac, if needed.


>In looking at the pictures, a couple of things

>jump out - first off, most of the pieces are shaped

>like loaves of bread, or like ingots.


In terms of being "...then sand-cast the resulting
melt into fine sand pre-forms roughly pounded out
to look like meteorites.", they seem to be too
ingot-like to have been made as deliberate fakes
formed to look like meteorites. To me, the ingot-like
forms suggest some sort of industrial by-product,
not something shaped to deceive. My (naive?)
impression is that we are dealing with self-delusion
on a massive scale instead of fraud.

That the olivines are of a type associated with Ni-Cu
ores and of the approximate age of Ni-Cu ores
associated such deposits suggests to me that whatever
created the Shirokovsky material might have something
to do with the smelting of such ores. The local Ural
olivines are far too old and not associated with
Ni-Cu ores from what I can tell and, thus can't be
their source. If Shirokovsky was made simply as a
fake,
the people involved logically wouldn't have ignored
local olivines,in favor of more distance olivines
associated with the Ni-Cu ores.

(Also, it doesn't look like it has been underwater
for 44 years. (Of course the water is cold, but
still there should be some obvious corrosion.)


>Secondly, the comment that the olivines did not

>equilibrate with the metal matrix, but rather

>"cooled quickly in a strongly oxidizing environment"

>is interesting. An oxidizing environment such as

>...air??


This is a devasating argument. Quick cooling
in an oxidizing environment certainly puts the
stake in heart, as if it was needed, of the
meteorite interpretation.

Also, I get the feeling that the promoters of it make
much of a nonexistent connection between the hole
in the ice and what was found on the bottom of the
reservoir. Given that the fall happened in 1956, how
do they know exactly where to search in 2002 some
44 years later? Are there any records of someone
determining the location of the hole in 1956 with a
survey before the ice melted?

It would be interesting to find out what sort
boat and barge traffic uses the Kosva River near
Shirokovsky. If there is any sort of commercial
or industrial traffic, there is almost an
unlimited variety of stuff that could get dumped
into the reservoir. I suspect the promoters of this
material as a meteorite likely don't realize that
all sorts of really weird stuff gets dumped into
reservoirs.

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Shirokovsky - Some Thoughts

Shirokovsky - Some Thoughts

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 7 01:22:44 EDT 2004

Peter Marmet wrote:


>as far as I know, the lastest info is still this

>special statement of the meteoritical society:


http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/bulletin/shirokovsky.pdf
"

One really curious thing about the Shirokovsky
material is that its K-Ar age of the olivine is
"about 270 million years". This is curious because
there are metalliferous ultramafic rocks of that age,
which contain dunite, a rock composed entirely of
olivine.

What is also most curious is that Au, Ir, and Os of
the olivine is typical of olivine found in Cu-Ni
deposits. It is curious because, there are large
ultramafic Cu-Ni ore deposits that occur in Russia
which contain olivine-rich rocks. For example,
there are "seven major ore deposits associated
with the basal portions of such olivine rich
intrusives" in the Noril'sk / Talnakh Ni-Cu-PGE
(Platinum-Group Elements) ore deposits. By coincidence

or not, these olivine-rich intrusives are part of
subsurface sills associated with extensive flood
basalt accumulations, called the "Siberian Traps",
is about 251 million years in age, which is quite
close to the "about 270 million years age" of the
Shirokovsky material. The inexact age determination
made on it, could be off by 20 million years.

Within the Central Urals, there are numerous
ultramafic
complexes that contain dunites associated with rich
chromite and PGE (Platinum-Group Elements)
mineralization and ores. Any of these could be
potential nearby sources of the olivine, which might
have been associated with ore being transported or
smelted.

Given the detailed analyses of the olivine in the
Shirokovsky material, a person should be able to
determine whether any potential / possible source for
the olivine described in the above Meteoritical
Society Report exists within Russia.

mark ford wrote:


>In all the pictures I have seen, to me

>it doesn't quite seem right for a

>pallasite the crystals look a bit too

>sharp and pointed', (just an observation)

>anyone agree with me?


I agree completely with you. Go read "[meteorite-
list] Shirokovsky Texture - A Red Flag As to Its
Origin??" at:

http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2003-June/091826.html

There I stated:

" I have been looking at a number of pictures of
fragments of Shirokovsky that were shown on
various web pages and pictures of pallasites.
After comparing them, there appears to be, in
my opinion, a rather drastic difference in the
texture of the olivine grains within each. In the
pallasites, indvidual grains are equant and either
rounded or euhedral. Also, in the pallasites, a
person can find examples of olivine grains that
have coalesced together.

Examples of this texture can be seen at:

http://www.meteoriteman.com/collection/thiel.htm
http://www.meteoriteman.com/collection/dora.htm
http://www.meteoriteman.com/collection/mtvernon.htm
http://meteorites.asu.edu/pallasite.jpg

In comparison, pictures of the pieces of
Shirokovsky that I have found have a different
texture. the olivine crystals are far more angular
and variable in outline than found in the pallasites,
for which I found pictures. In fact, some of the
olivine pieces in pictures of Shirokovsky are even
flat rectagular blades quite unlike anything seen
in true pallasites. In addition, I don't see any of
the merged / coalesced olivines seen in other,
Overall, the Shirokovsky has the appearance of a
terrazzo floor made up of fragmented rocks."

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Monday 5 July 2004

Fires Threaten Graham Mountain Observatory (Arizona)

Fires Threaten Graham Mountain Observatory (Arizona)

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Mon Jul 5 23:51:32 EDT 2004

Fire still threatens Arizona observatory
Washington Times, DC -
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040705-021707-9766r.htm

"Phoenix, AZ, Jul. 5 (UPI) -- A stubborn wildfire in
southern Arizona remained a threat Monday to the Mount

Graham Observatory, considered one of the top
astronomy
sites in the nation."

Two wildfires threatening observatory and houses
http://www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1999424

Yours,

Paul

Wednesday 30 June 2004

Original "Meteorite Kills(Fill in Blank)" Story Appears in WWW

Original "Meteorite Kills(Fill in Blank)" Story Appears in WWW

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 30 19:33:28 EDT 2004

While waiting in the local checkup line, I noticed
that this week's Weekly World News (WWW) has one of the
latest versions of the "Falling Meteorite kills (fill
in the blank) story. The headline reads, "Meteorite
Flattens Pope". In the tradition of the Weekly World
News, it is quite a shaggy dog story complete with
fake photographs. The people, who publish the WWW must be
really strange people.

Yours,

Paul

Wednesday 23 June 2004

paper About Tunguska Event Impactor

paper About Tunguska Event Impactor

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 23 13:34:50 EDT 2004

In the March (2004) issue of Planetary and Space
Science, there is a paper discussing the identity
of the impactor, which produced the Tunguska Event,
that might be of interest to some list members.
The paper is:

Q. L. Hou , E. M. Kolesnikov , L. W. Xie , N. V.
Kolesnikova , M. F. Zhou and M. Sun, 2004,
Platinum group element abundances in a peat layer
associated with the Tunguska event, further
evidence for a cosmic origin. Planetary and
Space Science. vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 331-340
doi:10.1016/j.pss.2003.08.002

Based upon "excess" Pd, Rh, Ru, REE, Co, Sr, and Y
found in a peat column from the Northern peat bog
of the 1908 Tunguska explosion site, they concluded
that the impactor, which created the Tunguska event
was "more likely a comet", although the possibility
that the impactor might have alternatively been a
carbonaceous asteroid. They estimated that the
mass of either the comet or carbonaceous asteroid
was as large as 103-106 tons.

I am only reporting what this paper stated. I don't
know enough about the pro and cons of the various
arguments about the Tunguska event to evaluate
their conclusions in any intelligent manner. If
anybody needs more information, he or she can
find contact information for the authors by
clicking the link, "Volume 52, Issue 4, pp. 259-340
(March 2004)" at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00320633

and following the article link to the abstract.

(Besides my library doesn't subscribe to Planetary
and Space Science. Thus, I only have access to the
article's abstract.)

Yours,

Paul

Friday 4 June 2004

Security Cameras and Washington Fireball

Security Cameras and Washington Fireball

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Fri Jun 4 09:34:38 EDT 2004

In the post "Washington Fireball" mark ford wrote:


> http://www.komonews.com/stories/31552.htm



>Film footage showing the Washington meteor

>illuminating the ground on security cameras

>... this is the real deal...


On these security camera tapes of the fireball,
there are some well-defined shadows of trees
and other objects. If the location of these
security cameras were known, couldn't the
shadows shown in the tape be used to precisely
determine the position of the fireball relative
to the cameras?

Just Curious

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA

Wednesday 2 June 2004

Looking for Map of Meteorite Finds in Eastern US

Looking for Map of Meteorite Finds in Eastern US

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 2 16:07:58 EDT 2004

Is there any published map that shows the
distribution of meteorite finds in the United
States in the area of North Carolina, South
Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern
Alabama and Mississippi?

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

Thursday 27 May 2004

what is the world standards for petrographical preparations (polarization microscopy)

what is the world standards for petrographical preparations (polarization microscopy)

Paul H bristolia at yahoo.com
Thu May 27 20:44:16 EDT 2004

E. L. Jones jonee at epix.net wrote:


>I am also interested in the use of "quartz"

>as index markers. This isn't in any of my

>reference books. Are they attached to the

>specimen and ground at the same time as the

>thin section?


No. The person grinding the thin section uses
the bifringence of whatever minerals are
present to judge the thickness of the thin
section. Quartz is used as an index marker
simply because, it is so common as to be
present in most sedimentary, igneous, and
metamorphic rocks. When it isn't present,
a person uses whatever mineral happens to
be in the thin section as an index.

Some web pages are:

Making Petrographic Thin Sections
http://www.union.edu/PUBLIC/GEODEPT/COURSES/petrology/thinsections.htm
http://almandine.geol.wwu.edu/~dave/other/thinsections/
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/fossil/thnsect.html

Making Petrographic Thin Sections
http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/mineralogie/links/tools/making.html

Rock-Forming Minerals in Thin Section
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/petrolgy/thinsect.htm

Atlas of Rocks and Minerals Under the Microscope
http://www.geologynet.com/thins.htm

Igneous rocks in thin section
http://www.union.edu/PUBLIC/GEODEPT/COURSES/petrology/ig_minerals.htm

Minerals in thin sections
http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/mineralogie/links/petrology/thinsection.html


>Another question I have. Is there a house

>that specializes in preparation? Kinda of

>like the $2 a carat faceting deals one can

>get in Thailand?


There are many places that specialize in making
thin sections. Typically, a person gets what
they pay for. A quick search using Google will
find a number petrographic labs that make thin
sections. If you are going to pay 5 to 50 dollars
a gram for a meteorite, paying 15.00 dollars for
a high quality thin section is the least of
your costs.

The people that use to make the thin sections for
my research (and search for more shocked quartz)
from samples in the Brushy Creek Carter is:

National Petrographic Service, Inc.
5933 Bellaire Blvd., Suite 108
Houston, TX 77081
http://www.nationalpetrographic.com/

Their price list is at:
http://www.nationalpetrographic.com/thin_sections.htm

Their price are average for what thin sections cost.

Elton


>Roman Davidov wrote:

>>Dear list members. Hello.

>>My question is: What is the world standards for

>>petrographical preparations. If I'm not mistaken

>>in English it sounds like "THIN SECTIONS".


Yes, as noted above, the term is "thin section".


>To be more concrete I mean: form and sizes of

>object glass (width,height,thickness);


The glass slide of the standard thin section is
27 x 46mm (1" x 1 7/8"). Larger slides are produced,
but size might vary according to the lab that
prepares them. For example, National Petrographic
has 38 x 75mm (1.5" x 3") and 50 x 75mm (2" x 3")
size glass slides for larger size thin sections.


>type of optical glue (we are using composition

>named "Canadian Balsam");


Hillquist A-B is used to glue slabs to slides.
However, Canadium Balsam is the standard for
attaching the coverslip. If you want to do any
microprobe, etxching, or similar work, i.e. for
identifying shocked quartz, the thin section needs
to be finished by polishing and the coverslip
left off.


>linear sizes of object (I'm sure that thickness

>is one to all of the world - 0.003 millimeters);

>form and sizes of cover glass.


The only requirement for the size of the object
is that it is a few mm smaller than the size of
the glass slide being used. The coverslip is
larger than the specimen and smaller than
the slide.

The coverslips come in sizes, thicknesses, and
optical character that are standardized for use
in making thin sections. A person needs to talk
with the people supplying the coverslips and
get the technical specifications of what they
are selling to see if they are suitable for
thin sections.

...text deleted...

Yours,

Paul
Baton Rouge, LA