 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
before 1930 on the farm of J.C.Dodson, Carter County. It was recognized
as a meteorite in 1952 by A.A.Graffham, the director of the museum in
the newly created Lake Murray State Park of which Dodson's farm had
become part. Graffham noted that the mass was embedded in a sandstone
layer dating from the time of the dinosaurs. It has been suggested that
this meteorite may be 65 million years old. The presence of an
extremely thick rust crust supported this observation. Nearly 1'000
pounds of oxidized shale was found in the immediate vicinity of the
mass itself. The meteorite was excavated and shipped to Albuquerque.
After the weathered mass had been freed of most of its oxide coating it
measured about 60 x 40 x 23 cm. La Paz assumed that the numerous,
scattered oxide shales, on and in the ground, were the result of the
impact of many smaller masses of the same fall, but it is more likely
that there was only one mass which, upon long terrestrial exposure,
disintegrated partially whereupon the debris was scattered slowly by
water, snow and wind around the main mass. A conservative estimate of
the weight of the meteorite before weathering is 500 kilograms. Lake
Murray is closely related to Ainsworth, Sikhote Alin, Sao Juliao and
Santa Luzia. It appears to have suffered significant reheating,
possibly in connection with a shock event. It's state of weathering
indicates that it is of high terrestrial age.
E-mail Address: meteorites@att.net