The first step is to learn to correctly identify a meteorite but, what's next?
Death Valley National Park Author Mila Zinkova
Once you can identify a meteorite (if you haven't read the meteorite identification section you should before proceeding) the next step is to know where you can go to find them and how to search the place effectively. So, what are some of the best places to search for meteorites? Well, the best place to look for meteorites is where they have been found before. These are places like craters and strewn fields. Strewn fields are known landing sites. Craters are also part of strewn fields but there are more strewn fields without a central crater than with and this is because there are many more smaller meteorites than the big ones that cause impact craters.
Now,if there are no known strewn fields close to where you live or if your looking to make a new discovery you'll want to try places where the ground contrasts well with meteorites and where there isn't much vegetation or many rocks. This would ideally be a desert or a dry lake bed, according to the best hunters out there, but you can also try recently plowed fields. This technique was employed by the father of meteorite hunting Harvey Harlow Nininger. For strewn fields and impact craters visit the meteorites falls map section in the find/search tab. There are many ways to go about searching, people have been known to try crazy inventions and even dogs. Lets see how we can search.
Now,if there are no known strewn fields close to where you live or if your looking to make a new discovery you'll want to try places where the ground contrasts well with meteorites and where there isn't much vegetation or many rocks. This would ideally be a desert or a dry lake bed, according to the best hunters out there, but you can also try recently plowed fields. This technique was employed by the father of meteorite hunting Harvey Harlow Nininger. For strewn fields and impact craters visit the meteorites falls map section in the find/search tab. There are many ways to go about searching, people have been known to try crazy inventions and even dogs. Lets see how we can search.
Okay so now you're out there now what?
Meteorites have many characteristics but when in the field the probability of finding a museum quality specimen is low so you will want to look for characteristics of weathered meteorites like stress fractures, nickel-iron flecks, and rust spots. Well you could just start looking around but without any equipment at all correctly identifying a meteorite would be a little difficult to the novice hunter especially if there a lot of other rocks lying around. So first you'll need a way to test suspected meteorites. A good way to do this is to use a magnet, a strong one, you will want to put it on a stick or rod so you don't have to bend down every time you want to test a rock, and this is called a meteorite cane, a stick with a magnet on the end. That is the basic setup for amateur meteorite hunters. If you want a bit of an edge you will want to get a metal detector so you don't have to work by sight alone. Although the best hunters in the world did not need one, but that's because they were the best and could spot a meteorite from a pile of rocks with just a glance. They also knew exactly were to go and went out of there way to travel anywhere in the world to get those meteorites and boy did they find some.
Of course you could go high tech, and it has payed off for many people. Using high tech metal detectors and even some home made that go really deep or cover a wide field of 3 or 4 feet wide made out of PVC pipes. These high tech gadget's have found the gorgeous Pallasites from a few feet deep, from places like Glorieta Mountain. For more info on meteorite hunting equipment and how to use it effectively check out the section hunting equipment here. His story here --> Meteorite finder
Of course you could go high tech, and it has payed off for many people. Using high tech metal detectors and even some home made that go really deep or cover a wide field of 3 or 4 feet wide made out of PVC pipes. These high tech gadget's have found the gorgeous Pallasites from a few feet deep, from places like Glorieta Mountain. For more info on meteorite hunting equipment and how to use it effectively check out the section hunting equipment here. His story here --> Meteorite finder
|
More videos coming soon...
|
|
