| Recent Meteorite Hunts |
 |
| Sep. 15, 2001- A friend and I travelled to birch lake because we had heard that a meteorite had been seen to fall somewhere in the north-west area of the lake. There was a wide expanse of salt flats there because it has been very dry for the last few years. We used our metal detectors to scan the ground. The salts in the ground played tricks with our detectors, giving false signals. We used our magnets to test any rocks but none stuck. I found one rock that was black and textured-smoothe. I took it home and ground a bit off but it was black all the way through so it isn't a meteorite. Another rock that I found later that day at another part of the lake, sets off my metal detector slightly and weakly sticks to a magnet. It is very fine grained and is very big. I am going to take it to the University of Alberta to get tested along with a batch of other rocks. Sep. 22, 2001- We returned to Birch lake and this time we traveled the other direction down the beach. I found one small rock that sticks to a magnet strongly enough to be picked up and sets off my metal detector. It is dark and sligtly heavy. I also found a fairly large piece of what looks like magnetite. It has shiny black crystals in it, it sets of my metal detector and sticks to a magnet. Sept. 29, 2001- My friend and I travelled to Wapasu lake (we call it waskapu) not far from birch lake. We searched the beach with our detectors but found no meteorites. I skimmed my magnet over the sand and got a lot of small black and brown shiny rocks and one grayish one with black patches on it (pieces of fusion crust?). These will join the many rocks that are going to the university. Oct. 19, 2001- George (my friend) and I went to the University of Alberta and met Dr Patricia Cavell, the collections co-ordinator. She examined the rocks that we had collected and came to the conclusion that they were probably not meteorites. Oh well. It is getting colder out now so there will be no more meteorite hunts this year. Nov. 17-18, 2001- Saw the Leonid meteor shower and it was very impressive. Click here to go to my "Leonids 2001" page. May. 4, 2002- George and I traveled to the Bruderheim strewn-field (L6 chondrite, March 4, 1960) and spent a few hours searching farmers fields for small pieces that may have been missed during the initial search. Once again we left without finding any meteorites but we did manage to meet some nice people and I posted an ad on a bulliten board offering to trade for or buy any meteorites that anyone may have but so far I haven't gotten any calls. June 15, 2002- George and I visited the site where the iron creek meteorite (medium octahedrite) was found. We checked a library in the town of Sedgewick and found a refrence to the meteorite in the town history book. It also mentioned that a monument was erected where the meteorite was found but we were unable to locate it. Apperently the iron creek meteorite (also known as the manitu stone) was revered by the native indians because they saw what appeared to be the face of one of their gods in the regmaglypts on the leading edge of this oriented meteorite. I have seen (and touched) the meteorite itself in the Provincial Museum of Alberta in Edmonton. The widmanstatten pattern was visible even though the meteorite has not been cut or etched (this is probably from the weak acid on people's fingers). We were hoping to find a fragment that may have broken off before impact but we were unsuccessful. The trip was worthwile as we learned a lot about the history of this fascinating meteorite. |