Meteorite or Meteorwrong Options

[Woody]

Some odd finds,

A buddy asked me to help him identify some hefty rock samples he was finding. He said they were full of metal and kind of resembled what one might think of as being a meteorite. This intrigued me and I headed over to check out his finds. Upon viewing them I was 95% certain they were not meteorites and was about 75% certain they were slag of some sorts. However I could not give a definitive answer one way or the other and I could not rule out with 100% certainty they were not a naturally occurring rock. We went to the local creek where quickly we found several other specimens, again a suggestive indicator they were slag.
Often the easiest way to determine what an item is, is by proving what it is not. So I tried the Meteorite or Meteorwrong test. “Credit Utah’s Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey and other on-line resources”.
“Many different types of meteorites, this material would best fit the Stony-Iron type.”
1. Does the rock have a fusion crust? “Fusion Crust can be dark brown to fresh black, and glassy”. Answer- Yes, there are several areas that could be called fusion crust.
2. Is the rock magnetic? Iron meteorites strongly attract a magnet, stony meteorites have a slight attraction. Answer- Yes magnetic.
3. Does the rock have native iron? Native iron is shiny metal bright and looks like untarnished silver when it is exposed. Native iron is extremely rare in natural earth rocks. Answer- Yes there is metal showing and if I had to describe it I would use the words, “looks like Silver”.
4. Does the rock feel heavy compared to other rocks about the same size? Stony meteorites usually have a density from 3 to 4 times the density of fresh water. Answer- Yes it is much heavier than water.
5. Does the rock pass the window test. Cut a small window to see inside. Meteorites are tough, so you may need some elbow grease and lots of patience here! Wipe off the dust from the ground-off area and look inside the rock. A plain and featureless texture suggests that it's just another Earthly meteor-wrong, but if you can see small, bright flakes of shiny metal mixed within the stone, it probably is a meteorite. Answer- yes I see three metallic flakes in the small window I made.
6. Does your rock have bubble holes (vesicles)? Most meteorites don't have vesicles. Answer- Yes there is some holes in the material.
7. Does the rock have a streak? Test for streak by rubbing the rock on unglazed porcelain such as the back of a tile. If it leaves a streak, it probably isn't a meteorite. Answer- Well kind of, some of it will and some of it will not.
So two of the seven tests fail, there is bubbles and it will leave a streak, again probably not extra-terrestrial. Had me worried there for a couple of minutes. They are probably some sort of high grade slag. A by-product of the early mining days here in Colorado Springs. I can’t say why they have iron and metal showing but maybe the process used in those days were not as efficient as one might think. So sorry Chris B, I don’t believe they are meteorites but it is possible they could contain high grade ore of some sort.

All in all we found around 10 items. Some were about the size of a small microwave and too heavy to carry. As I cut into the material I was surprised to see the characteristics. There was little to no granular structure and it could be describes as being kind of resinous. It would not cut easy with a dermal cutting wheel. It kind of “chunked” off like it was brittle but it was not. Not what a person would think of as being slag.

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[Woody]

Thats very interesting information Snowball,

Kind of hard keeping up with you as you were running along but I get the jist. I do agree this material sure looks interesting but I don't think your theory will hold true for this one. All specimens were found in close association with sedimentary rock. No Igneous to speak of within miles. The area they come from was only a couple of miles or so from a large ore smelting plant back in 1800"s. This plants primary function seemed to be precious metals. Likely they had a large volume of low-grade material that was not profitable at the time. That would be my guess and the research done by ASTROBLEME and his associates seem to fit the bill as well. The one thing your theory did not cover was the large vesicles which is the main characteristic keeping it from being a Meteorite. How do you purpose we move past that? If you can come up with an acceptable explanation for such a large disqualifier I will mail you a sample that is yours to keep. Woody