Excavating meteorite fields

Scientists were excited when they pulled a 154-pound (70-kilogram) meteorite from deep below a wheat field in Kansas, but what got them most electrified was the way they unearthed it.

The team on Monday uncovered the find 4 feet, or just over 1 meter, under a meteorite-strewn field using new ground-penetrating radar technology that someday might be used on Mars.

And it's not just the meteorite that's an exciting find: just as with the archeology of artifacts, the context is as important as the objects found.

The dig was likely the most documented excavation yet of a meteorite find, with researchers painstakingly using brushes and hand tools to preserve evidence of the impact trail and to date the event of the meteorite strike. Soil samples also were bagged and tagged and organic material preserved for dating purposes. . .

Even before they had the pallasite meteorite out of the ground, the scientific experts at the site were able to debunk prevailing wisdom that the spectacular Brenham meteorite fall occurred 20,000 years ago. Its location in the Pleistocene epoch soil layer puts that date closer to 10,000 years ago.

"We know it is recent," said Carolyn Sumners, director of Astronomy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, as she surveyed progress on the dig. "Native Americans could have seen it."

Though there were certainly enough objects found, too:

The site was largely forgotten in recent decades until Arnold and Mani leased eight square miles, or 20 square kilometers, of it and began looking deep below the surface. More than 15,000 pounds (6,800 kilograms) of meteorites have been recovered from the area.

The article mentions that the Houston Museum of Natural Science will be paying about $50,000 for the large meteorite, which implies that the other finds will also make their way to market. I wonder what the impact will be on pallasite meteorite prices? Full story here.

Posted by David on October 17, 2006 8:29 AM