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Coaldale Crater Gemstones, Meteorite Impact Produces Rare Specimens
ASTROBLEME
post Aug 3 2016, 04:39 PM
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Members and Guests of Colorado Prospector,

Many years ago I discovered a highly eroded, geologically complex and very ancient impact crater centered 3 ¼ miles northwest of Coaldale, Colorado (USA). I am announcing this discovery as a long-time contributor to this forum in an effort to assure that the public has access to this information. Dan (the owner and operator of Colorado Prospector) is preparing some of my "Coaldale Crater" specimens for jewelry settings. He has graciously agreed to document his work progress so that others can gain a better understanding of the effort it takes to transform these raw materials into valuable gemstones. Please take time to follow this project along the way. I hope you find the subject interesting.

I'll be sharing the science behind this amazing discovery as our work progresses. This research builds upon my work at Gunnison Crater, Westcliffe Crater, Silver Cliff Crater and Hillside Crater that proved an extension to the 38th Parallel Crater Chain dating to the Late Devonian Period. Although the Coaldale Crater is also along the 38th Parallel, it is not part of the well documented crater chain system. My efforts in the Coaldale Colorado region included collecting field survey data, acquiring and analyzing numerous geologic specimens followed by an extensive review of the relevant scientific literature. The results support an impact event that occurred during the Oligocene Epoch.

For now, I'm providing the attached map depicting the present peak ring exposure. It is fascinating that this impact crater has survived the deep erosion and strong fault deformation that Mother Nature has provided continually over the past 27+ million years.

Sincerely,

ASTROBLEME

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"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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Woody
post Aug 4 2016, 08:31 AM
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Interesting indeed,

I pass by there frequently and never thought a thing about impact craters. I'll be there today working about 5 miles off the HWY. Certainly going to give it a second look this time. Thanks, Woody.


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Denise
post Aug 4 2016, 10:46 AM
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smiley-shocked003.gif Thats amazing information you have provided Johnny!! Thank you VERY much for sharing this info with us and the forum users!!

Colorado Prospector would be more than honored to work those amazing specimens for you. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif


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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 4 2016, 10:57 AM
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Hello Woody,

As you pass the area on Highway 50, take notice of the conspicuous hill near the Kerr Gulch Road. If you pull off the highway into that wide area depicted by the red arrow in the Google Street View below, you'll see a large boulder. This rock is an ignimbrite named Fish Canyon Tuff that eroded from the hillside. Before it came to the present day resting place alongside the highway, it was erupted from the La Garita Caldera in the San Juan volcanic field about 27.83 million years ago. This ash flow rock (along with numerous other rocks within that peak ring exposure) shows slickensides with strike-slip striae... strong evidence of impact induced shock. Photos of the rock and slickensides are also attached.

ASTROBLEME

QUOTE (Woody @ Aug 4 2016, 09:31 AM) *
Interesting indeed,

I pass by there frequently and never thought a thing about impact craters. I'll be there today working about 5 miles off the HWY. Certainly going to give it a second look this time. Thanks, Woody.


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Tonko Mining Company

"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 5 2016, 09:18 AM
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History of Impact Crater Discovery

John Tonko (my father) was fishing the Arkansas River a half-century ago just downstream from what I now recognize as the Coaldale Crater. He saw a glimmer of light coming from the wet black sands along the shoreline. Digging out the sparkling object, he thought at first it was just a piece of antique glass insulator. Closer examination showed that it was something very special. The specimen was subsequently examined by college faculty, gemologists, and geological laboratories. Their general opinion was that the gemstone was an exotic specimen of unknown origin.

John Tonko (my grandfather) came to America from Austria to first mine coal in Pennsylvania and a few years later he moved into Colorado to mine hard rock gold. That long family history is likely why I have such passion for prospecting. I remember my father's excitement that day of his find. He had never came across such a specimen in all of his life. Eventually he wanted to learn more about his find, so he had a "window" cut into the gemstone in the mid 1970's. That work was performed in order to reveal the interior that was hidden from view by the surface erosion pits created by the river currents. The gem cutter was surprised at the hardness of the specimen. There was some loss due to the cutting and polishing so the historic gem currently weighs in at 369 carats. The attached photos are of that historical blue-green gemstone my father found when I was just a boy. Now, through lots of time, substantial effort and personal expense, I have the good science that supports the source of that gem as being from the meteorite that created the Coaldale Crater some 27+ million years ago.

ASTROBLEME

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Tonko Mining Company

"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 5 2016, 03:46 PM
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Gemstone Material Represented in Breccia at Coaldale Crater

The attached photo depicts the major stratigraphic complexes and regional ignimbrites trapped in impact generated breccia. As a side note, the coin used for scale was found in a recent recovery of a CP Geochache. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

A close observation of this cut specimen reveals the blue-green gemstone material from the meteorite along with shocked quartz fragments. The other major components and age in millions of years are as follows;
Carpenter Ridge Tuff 27.4 Ma
Fish Canyon Tuff 27.8 Ma
East Gulch Tuff 33.7 Ma
Antero Formation 33.8 Ma
Wall Mountain Tuff 36.7 Ma

ASTROBLEME

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Tonko Mining Company

"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 5 2016, 04:33 PM
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Geochronological Data

The impact into the paleovalley creating the Coaldale Crater has been precisely dated. Based on a published report for 40Ar/39Ar analysis of a thin greenish-white deposit preserved within the crater's remaining peak rings, impact is dated at 27.38 million years ago. The data is of very high percision and has a deviation of only plus or minus 0.12 million years.

The greenish gemstone material sourced from the meteorite that smashed into the valley is clearly visible in the attached photo of the fall back breccia deposit. A similar type rock is now being crafted by CP and I'm anticipating some great looking gemstones. CP_Member.gif

ASTROBLEME

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Tonko Mining Company

"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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CP
post Aug 6 2016, 03:38 PM
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Very cool information Johnny and thank you very much for posting your discovery announcement via the forums here! We will be looking forward to more updates on your work through the years to prove up this craters existence too, just fascinating! Obviously since that killer gem piece was found by your dad years ago..... (GOTTA' SAY WHOA AND WOW TO THAT! jawdrop.gif signs021.gif ).....that is a sweet rock! thumbsupsmileyanim.gif So that would be a "chondrite" nodule? If I'm understanding it right?

You've had an interest in meteorites, craters and mining in general since a very young age. Bet you've had a lot of time vested in research and a whole heap of info to go with it over the years. Going to be fun watching this thread and project progress for sure! Stay tuned folks if you like this kinda' science stuff.

I'd also like to take one moment to mention that Johnny here happens to be our longest running yearly club member thus far. That says a lot to me and the rest of the club I think it is worth a mention. Thank you Johnny! CP_Member.gif

So, Johnny and his wife Donna drove down to bring some samples/pieces to cut for this project. I'm very pleased and proud to work some more material for Johnny on this project and it was great to finally get to meet them both after all this time too! We had a great visit and they brought several samples to work with for this project as well as a couple other samples I'll also be making projects out of later....... Those are not from this crater or included here though.

For now I'll be working on a cut lot of the Carbondale Crater Meteorite sample provided and tektite samples provided. The one meteorite sample we'll begin with for the cuts. First is a pic of the rough meteorite sample.
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Since this is also a project to help the further study of this material, I also took some extra time before cutting to brush clean out the saw used. So after cleaning out any other material/dust from previous cuts in the water box area under the saw, I cut the meteorite first which produced these cuts in the pic below....... The idea behind the pre-cleaning of the water box container was to reclaim what the saw cuts out of the meteorite sample....ie small chondrite nodules. So in the small bag lower right is the reclaimed saw cuttings for Johnny's further study purposes as well as two very thin slices middle right and upper right also for study purposes. One is about 1 mm thick the other approx. 2 mm. and that is done free handed on a small saw with a thick/stiff blade. Other cutters may have used a thinner more flexible blade for less loss during cutting, but I feel the opposite with that thought for anything over 3/8" thick....I think a flexible blade causes more waste actually with the uneven cutting that occurs (especially trying to slice or slab) which then must be ground flat anyway. All these pieces are flat enough to be blank fronts of the stones to be cut, or back sides without further grinding or waste of material. More consistent cuts equal no waste! happy088.gif

All the other nine pieces in this pic could be used to cut a stone I think, time will tell, the meteorite sample was solid and cut well! The lower left piece was part of the original surface that Johnny hand polished previously and shows how the finish cut/polish will look darker than the slices cut now do.

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There are several (a bunch) tektite samples provide to work with of which I sorted into 4 types so to speak...... Unfortunately all the tektite material is highly prone to cracking and with some effort through several samples I did manage to get a few workable slices. The types of material are all represented in this pic of rough samples. A conglomerate (upper right), a very light green(upper left), a range of medium greens (lower right and center), and a few very dark green with white banding (lower left).

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After cutting I've culled out these pieces as possible to work......the conglomerate had the worst fracture problem and there is only 1 viable slice so far for that (lower right with 3 thin study slices), next worst with the fracturing was the lightest green material (upper right) which may not stay together well enough to endure cutting/cabbing process. The middle row (up/down) is of the darkest green with white banding, I think it will cut nicely but still a fracture concern, top piece of that row shows rough side, with two under showing cut sides and one thin study slice at the bottom of that row. Far left group is of the medium green types and showed best for less fracturing but still does have them. Top piece shows a rough side, the rest show cuts and of course one thin slice at the bottom for study purposes. These have many inclusions that should be very pretty when polished out to finish. happy112.gif

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More updates to follow folks, this is going to be a fun thread and project! thumbsupsmileyanim.gif








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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 6 2016, 07:05 PM
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Dan,

I am so impressed by your ability to cut those thin sections. worthy.gif Your efforts will help with investigating the chondrules further. Many thanks for preparing those slices.


Members and Guests,

The majority of chondrules in the Coaldale Meteorite are similar to other meteorites but those thin rimmed, blue-green hued, glassy chondrules are distinctly different. The spherical inclusions are not to be confused with a secondary infilling process that occurs in some volcanic deposits. Only a handful of meteorites in current collections have any "glassy" chondrules. These unique blue-green glass rich chondrules are the source for my father's gemstone find. Of significant interest is the fact that I've found a limited number of cavities that I call "sockets" in some broken fragments of the Coaldale Meteorite. A few "sockets" are quite large...and I interpret those cavities to be the source of the exotic gemstones such as my dad's...and with deposits found in the Red Rock Placer Mining Claim Group that I've located on the Arkansas River where it cuts through the crater.

The tektite and breccias at Coaldale Crater that Dan is preparing are basically a hyper-velocity impact melt induced reworking of the meteorite, mixing it into the deposits that were in place at the impact crater site some 27+ million years ago. Most of the meteorite was destroyed and the glassy chondrules in the meteorite were remelted and mixed up with earth material being excavated during the crater formation. The common name for this type of impact material is "tektite". Dan previously worked up the Gunnison Crater Tektite gemstones for my company several years ago. In fact, he was the first one who recognized metal inclusions within that tektite. I fully trust his ability to work on this project. chores041.gif I think Coaldale Tektite will have fantastic eye appeal and I'm looking forward to the shaped and polished results! thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

It is apparent that the meteorite creating Coaldale Crater was a large object that had coalesced from collisions in space with other bodies. Those high speed space collisions resulted in melting of the original meteorite's components to form the larger body having a much altered composition in the end. The rims of the glassy chondrules appear to contain mineral and glass compositions from the original nebular condensation components and tiny matrix grains of the smaller original meteorite(s) that had coalesced. Only recently have scientists started to investigate this type of chondrule formation. Experiments using NASA’s two-stage light gas gun to analyze thermal and shock alteration due to hypervelocity impacts into variable materials is currently underway.

I am still months away from finalizing the all data from this meteorite impact. One thing that might interest readers of this thread is the results of the chemical test I developed for fast and cheap determination for “meteorite or meteor wrong”. You can read about the procedure on this forum at

Meteorite Test

The attached photos show the results for that nickel test on the Coaldale Meteorite specimen.

ASTROBLEME

Acid Leaching Result
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Addition of Nickel Test Reagent

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Final Result

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"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 7 2016, 05:43 PM
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Shock Melt Evidence

Hello Everyone,

In an effort to help with the understanding of the almost instantaneous changes that a high speed space rock goes through when it impacts into another high speed space rock, I'm attaching 2 photos of an altered fragment of the Coaldale Meteorite. Before it arrived at the crater site, this piece was subjected to intense heat and pressure induced by impact(s) in space. The brownish colored matrix of the meteorite melted first. The last thing to succumb to shock melt metamorphism was the "blue-green glassy chondrules". So if you look closely at the pics, you will see all phases of the impact shock melt process in this piece. Some glassy chondrules still show strong shock evidence in parallel lines. Others show conchoidal fracturing. Some of these blue-green glassy chondrules are significantly melted and match characteristics of my father's find. All these phases of shock induced melting are easily observable by the naked eye within this single specimen of altered Coaldale Meteorite. These alterations happened in the cold dark reaches of space and the impacting objects coalesced into some thing brand new. All this happened before the newly formed object impacted Earth...or as I prefer to say...the Earth smashed into it. atomic.gif

This is the first recovered specimen that proved to me that my father's stone was related to the Coaldale Crater Impact Crater. excited.gif The glassy chondrules are inside smooth cavities that I call "sockets". The larger the socket, the larger the gemstone.

I'll be attending this evenings club meeting at 6PM if you have any questions. If you're a member please attend, if you're no yet a member, please sign up and participate in this discussion.

ASTROBLEME

Shock Melt Coaldale Meteorite Fragment

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Close up View Shock Melt Coaldale Meteorite Fragment
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"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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CP
post Aug 7 2016, 05:55 PM
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Very cool Johnny, and thank you kindly for the compliments! biggrin.gif I'm looking forward to the discussion tonight.

Also, while working on the cuttings today (assigning shapes to the blanks), I also noticed a large glassy something on the outer rough layer of one light green piece of tektite. I tried to snap a shot of the tiny (crystal?) but it's kind of little and hard to shoot a pic of.

It's almost meetin' time folks! signs021.gif


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EMac
post Aug 8 2016, 04:10 PM
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Hi Johnny,

Thanks for sharing this info with us, and particularly for sticking your neck out! This is all new to me, and it's taking me some time to dig in and understand what you're saying. I've been doing a lot of reading about identifying meteorites and tektites compared to plain rocks and volcanic glass, and reading about the signatures associated with hyper velocity impacts. I'd like to respectfully challenge your finds with the understanding that at a very minimum I/we will come away with more education.

Have you published or attempted to publish any of your findings/theories in a peer reviewed journal? Frankly, this would gain you a lot of clout if you get other learned individuals to agree with your theories. It would seem that if you've found 3 previously unknown impact craters right here in CO that the geology community would be clamoring to know more. The Gunnison article from 10 years ago had two professors disagreeing with your theories around Gunnison, and now you have 2 additional crater theories. Barringer took 3 years from time he made his theories public in 1903 to when he provided documented evidence to the US Geologic Survey. It took at least another 47 years for the scientific community to get on board when Shoemaker confirmed Barringer's findings.

How do you know these are tektites and meteorite fragments? For instance the pictures below you say are meteorite fragments, but I see a lot of vesicles present which I understand to be indicative of terrestrial rocks. I understand there's also not much difference between tektites and obsidian, but we can determine which is which by exposing samples to an oxyacetylene torch (Meteorite Times Magazine test). Do you have any tests like this? Are you able to share any reports on samples you have such as SEM-EDS? This would be quite interesting to see for the blue sample you have.

Quoting a report by Gordon Osinski,
QUOTE
Several criteria may be used to identify hypervelocity impact structures, including the presence of a crater form and/or unusual rocks, such as breccias, melt rocks, and pseudotachylyte; however, on their own, these indicators do not provide definitive evidence for a meteorite impact structure. The general consensus within the impact community is that unequivocal evidence for hypervelocity impact takes the form of shock metamorphic indicators, either megascopic (e.g., shatter cones Fig. 11) or microscopic (e.g., planar deformation features, Fig. 12; diaplectic glass, Fig. 13), and the presence of high-pressure polymorphs (e.g., coesite, stishovite).
Have you objectively identified any of these indicators?

With respect to what you call the Tonko lineament, you state the Gunnison crater occurred during the Devonian period and is part of other impacts along the 38th parallel. The Devonian period was ~363-409M years ago, followed by the formation and break up of Pangea 245M years ago, the Laramide Oregeny uplift 57M years ago, the clockwise rotation of the entire Colorado Plateau (includes Gunnison, but excludes Denver, and certainly Missouri and Illinois) 20M years ago, and additional uplift 5M years ago. That was followed by glaciation, erosion, periodic faulting and volcanism. It seems fairly obvious what's in a straight line today, certainly wasn't that way 350M years ago if we include Colorado in the 38th parallel lineament. How do you explain these differences? Assuming you can prove these are impact craters, why would you need to tie them to the 38th parallel lineament at all?

Additionally, on your website, you show a picture of Gunnison breccia next to Weinbleau-Osceola breccia showing the similarity. Since I had no idea what impact breccia looks like, I went looking. I can't help but notice they look similar to the bottom left breccia from Washington University's meteorite identification page (negative examples): WUSTL Main Page & WUSTL breccia image. What differentiates the breccias you have?

Around the slickensides and strike slip faults below, I'm not sure that's an indicator of anything, so I'm hoping you can expand on your point here. You state it was ejected by volcanic forces ~28M years ago, and the ashflow shows slickensides in a strike-slip orientation (horizontal slippage). This period of time is also marked by significant geological activity, all of which can produce slickensides; how do you attribute slickensides observed with an impact event vs well known geological events from the same time period? I can't find that there's a correlation between slickensides and impact events, although it certainly seems feasible.

Again, thanks for taking the time to share what you've found with us! I know I've learned a lot just being exposed to the subject!

~Eric


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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 8 2016, 07:40 PM
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Hello Eric,

Thanks for looking at this matter from a scientific perspective. I'll try and answer your inquiry.

Re: Coaldale Crater
First, lets cover the peer review question. I have been a member of the Impact Field Studies Group that traveled around researching impact craters. The group is no longer active as interest in these maters seems to follow funding and there isn't much available any more from public sources. Prior to retiring as a scientist/researcher from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, I can assure you that I have completed much research and written numerous papers that were then reviewed at all sorts of levels including judicial review up to the Colorado State Supreme Court. For decades, my work was property of the government agency that employed me...not my own. The government controlled the data and results and I understood that process all too well. The thing that always bothered me most was if my findings did not square with the politics of the issue or it was contrary to what high level decision makers were trying to support or deny, then my work was never released publicly. This problem is systemic...you see it everyday when Freedom of Information Act Requests are made or Sunshine Laws are used to get required info from public sources. This is the same pattern seen in many scientific communities. Peer review papers are owned by the publisher and often, one must pay the publisher just to read them. My personal work product belongs to me. Therefore, I can share my research with those interested parties without limitations. It is for these reasons that I don't care to "gain a lot of clout if you get other learned individuals to agree with your theories" as you suggest.

As I noted in the posting of August 6th at 8:05, I advised readers that I'm am still months away from finalizing results from all the data I have collected from this structure at Coaldale. The FUS-ICP and INAA lab tests I have in-hand and all the others that I'm still in process of obtaining on Coaldale, along with continued lab work for samples from Gunnison, Hillside, Westcliffe and Silver Cliff Craters...well that is very expensive. Since I self-fund all this, it is going to take much more time until I've finished with this effort. Vesicles are not present in the Coaldale Meteorite. You might be seeing the pits from my cutting equipment in the pics of the meteorite. My saw is old and worn out, so it wobbles, shakes and tears out the chondrules leaving behind a spherical pit that resembles a vesicle. I think the fresh cuts that CP is doing do not show anything like vesicles in the meteorite specimen. He is more skilled at cutting than I and he has the proper equipment for the work he's performing. Keep in mind that ancient meteorites are very altered by weathering and they look nothing like modern meteorites that are in collections today.

Planar deformation features produced by shock are the features that are generally accepted as unequivocal evidence for hypervelocity impact. I have done that for each crater by use of a 60X stereo microscope to confirm their presence or absence in field samples. The slickensides indicate the direction the rock moved and the great number, intensity and direction of the slickensides at Coadale point towards a cratering event. Understanding the volcanic events provides further evidence of an impact event. The age sequence is inverse for the volcanic-stratigraphic succession at Coaldale Crater. Specifically, the 27 Ma ignimbrites are buried underneath 32 Ma strata. I saw this same overlaying of older strata on younger strata when I visited Canyon Diablo Crater in Arizona a few years ago. The impact process overturns and reworks whatever deposits are in place at time of impact. These inverse exposures at Coaldale Crater are strongly indicative of an impact event.

Re: Gunnison Crater
On my company website in the Gunnison Tektite offerings, I have given notice that it was tested in oxyacetylene flame to incandescent temps without melting. On the 38th Parallel alignment, there has been some movement but the area as a whole has shifted and the uplifting and erosion isn't significant enough to shift the lineament pattern. Your concern over the pics of impact breccia should be put to the side by the 2 attached photos of sliced and polished Gunnison Crater breccia. Please take notice of the white glassy spheres that are impact-generated carbonate accretionary lapilli that are prima facia evidence of a crater event. These are also identical to those observed in the breccia at Alamo Crater. Alamo Crater is in my Tonko Alignment along the 38th Parallel, being the furthest west and also dates as late Devonian.

I probably haven’t answered everything you asked but I gave it an honest try. Please understand that if it weren't for my efforts, then these structures would still be unnoticed.

ASTROBLEME

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"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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EMac
post Aug 9 2016, 08:50 AM
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Thanks Johnny; as expected, I've got more reading to do. research.gif



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ASTROBLEME
post Aug 9 2016, 02:21 PM
Post #15


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Flame Testing

Eric had questions about flame testing so I want to share these findings for Coaldale Crater Meteorite. I used an oxyacetylene torch to heat a very weathered specimen along the edge until it became incandescent. The specimen’s edge was kept in a white hot state for an extended time. The matrix melted somewhat but the glass remained intact... except for some shattering after it cooled. The attached 10X photo shows the slight melting of matrix but most importantly reveals that the shattering followed the shock lamellae in that blue-green glassy chondrule.

Here’s a link to a photo of shock lamellae in quartz from the K-T boundary. I think you’ll see the characteristics of planar deformation that is further proof of hypervelocity impact.

Shock Lamallae in K-T Quartz

ASTROBLEME

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"Some day this crater is going to be a greatly talked about place, and if the above credit is due, as is certainly the case, I would like to have it generally known for the sake of the children." Daniel Moreau Barringer 2/1/1912 in a letter about the Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona USA
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