Meteorite?

[mr fossil]

Hello!

I found this rock in the desert in Saudi Arabia, it felt heavy and I measured its density to be 2.9 g/cm3. 
I also cut it on the edge and appeared to be iron or some metal but it doesn’t stick to a magnet.

what is it?

[Lone Hunter]

It's probably a concretion of some kind of iron oxide like limonite. 

[mr fossil]

The last image shows how metalically shiny it is.

[FranzBernhard]

What was the color of the resulting powder during cutting?

Franz Bernhard

[Lone Hunter]

Hematite and magnetite will look like shiny metal when cut. 

[ThePhysicist]

If it's metallic when cut and doesn't stick to a magnet, it almost certainly is not a meteorite. Most all meteorites have a high iron content, especially the metal ones (called "iron meteorites" which are composed of > 90% iron). You were looking in a decent place to find them, many meteorites have been found in deserts where they don't erode as quickly.

Edited October 4, 2022 by ThePhysicist

[mr fossil]

9 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

What was the color of the resulting powder during cutting?

Franz Bernhard

It was black

[mr fossil]

3 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

If it's metallic when cut and doesn't stick to a magnet, it almost certainly is not a meteorite. Most all meteorites have a high iron content, especially the metal ones (called "iron meteorites" which are composed of > 90% iron). You were looking in a decent place to find them, many meteorites have been found in deserts where they don't erode as quickly.

Then what is it?

[debivort]

6 minutes ago, mr fossil said:

Then what is it?

 

9 hours ago, Lone Hunter said:

It's probably a concretion of some kind of iron oxide like limonite. 

 

[Lone Hunter]

See what the streak is of the dark part, if black/grey then there is also magnetite, if reddish/brown then hematite. 

[FranzBernhard]

Puzzling!

Density* is quite in the normal range for rocks.

From some pics, I get the feeling that it is a weathered concretion.

Limonite should give a brown powder.

Metallic sheen - the low density does not fit with most metals.

Rusted iron, weathered pyrrhotite - should be more dense and magnetic.

Weathered pyrite/marcasite - should be more dense.

Same with magnetite and hematite.

*A weathering crust and impurites can lower density considerably, though! But still may quite look like the pure stuff!

 

@mr fossil, would you like to chip off a small piece from the already cut edge? What does it look like?

Would you like to perform a proper streak test with the fresh interior?

Have you checked the accuracy of your density measurement with a normal rock such a limestone?

 

Franz Bernhard

[ThePhysicist]

2 hours ago, mr fossil said:

Then what is it?

An Earth rock . I don't know what kind, however. To my knowledge, nothing presented here supports it being a meteorite.

 

If you'd like a second (more knowledgable) opinion, try shooting Randy Korotev an email: https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/self-test-check-list/

[DPS Ammonite]

We need to give this to everyone that shows us a picture of their purported meteorite. Too bad that someone can’t create a “library” of links and file this under meteorite. 

[Mahnmut]

Did you use a strong magnet on the cut surface? That surface looks very much like metallic iron, A weak magnet may not show its effect clearly through a thick crust of oxide though.  Or maybe magnetite, as Lone Hunter stated, hematite should give a red powder/streak which you can test on the backside of a white ceramic plate or tile.

As I like to state, there are alloys of iron, kinds of steel, that are not magnetic. But those are relatively new and do not rust fast, so I would not expect a manmade piece of steel to have gathered that much oxide.

Beautiful piece in its way.

Best Regards,

J

 

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Mahnmut
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