Plainview Meteorite Expedition of Labor Day 2005
By McCartney Taylor September 11, 2005
The Nature of the Trip
Meteorites! What better excuse for a vacation? How about meteorites, business, and birds? Over Labor Day weekend (Sept 3-5 for you Europeans) I was flown out to Lubbock, Texas for a board of directors meeting of an oil company and for the traditional opening day dove hunt. For those of you who are not from the glorious state of Texas, it is traditional in the oil and gas industry to host an annual hunt of the upland game bird known as the mourning dove. The hosts invite vendors and important customers; and as a consultant, I got invited. So this time I avoided that long 7 hour drive across Texas.
Some of you who have followed my past Field Trip Reports, know that I’m primarily a Niningeresque hunter - out to find farmers who have plowed up strange stones. Hunting them myself is not my forte, I’d rather find those who have found them. This time there was a twist. That twist was TV. In June, I was invited by Fox 34 of Lubbock, Texas to do a quick interview about meteorites and the “Lubbock Supercluster” (term coined by Bill Peck) in Lubbock county. That exposure got me in the door with the Plainview Daily Herald and they ran one of my articles. From those media sources, I received many leads, spoke to many strange, weird and wonderful people. During this trip I visited those who passed my screening.
This trip netted some really interesting stuff. First, out of 6 rocks I looked at 2 were meteorites, one stone was probably a meteorite until I cut it open and now I’m not sure, and 1 iron was probably a meteorwrong. 2 stones were total junk, and I’ve got to admit, it’s the first meteorwrongs I’ve seen with Crayon art on them. Still, I’d call a 1 in 3 right/wrong ratio pretty darn good in my mind.
Local Flair
As usual for my trips, I try to take pictures that show the lifestyle and culture of the area. Below and left, in the picture you see some “Oreo cows” which are simply cattle bred to have a white stripe in the middle. I think the real name is “Banded Cow”. The farm buggy is a forklift/mower combo for yuppie ranchers.
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| Holy Cows! |
Plainview, Texas has a new cultural icon about the town - painted cows. Dozens of businesses and organizations have these cow statues outside their place of business. Each one is custom painted with some scene. The cow below is in front of the Wayland University. The bank’s cow statue was painted as if it was plastered over with $100 bills.
Bug Hunters find Meteorites
This trip had many surprises. First, the finders of these meteorites were Boll Weevil Trappers. For those not familiar with cotton farming, or wondering why you’ve never seen a Boll Weevil fur coat; let me explain. A Boll Weevil is a bug about 1 cm long. They are highly destructive to cotton, as they get into the boll of the cotton plant and eat the cotton from the inside. They are a dangerous economic pest and are so destructive that entire states can be devastated.
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| Boll Weevil has punctured a cotton boll. (Photo courtesy of the Clemson University Entomology Dept) |
Thus, the government requires every cotton grower in West Texas to pay $5/acre each year to the Boll Weevil Eradication fund. This fund supports an army of inspectors called Boll Weevil Trappers. The trappers set out traps at the edge of cotton fields that look like upside down Sprite bottles. Often near the ditches, in the process of checking the traps the Trappers may find an odd rock thrown in the ditches.
Meteorite Finds?
The first interesting find of the trip was found by Mr. Durham pictured below. He found two interesting masses inside the strewnfield of the Plainview 1917 meteorite. One looked like a slag product but tests positive for nickel (no picture). I will send it off for further tests just to be on the safe side. To the right you will see the other mass. It was barren of fusion crust, but once I filed into it, it had the normal free iron flakes that designate a meteorite. Little did I know that once I cut this open, it would turn out to be something weird.
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Mr. Durham and the Plainview Weird One |
Below are some pictures of the slices of what I’m calling the Plainview Weird One. Below is a close up of the matrix and the tiny bubble that were present. Remember – this is not yet certified a meteorite or meteorwrong! If you recognize this please email me!
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| Rite or Wrong? |
Two Finds
The other two stones were also interesting. They were both found by Mr. Borum (pic below), a Boll Weevil Trapper, who also happens to be a 2nd generation meteorite finder. When he was a boy, his father dealt with H.H. Nininger because of a large 15 pound meteorite plowed up by a lister, an old type of plow. Mr. Borum recalls that Nininger had a map of Swisher and Hale County with dots for meteorite finds that he recovered about the county. If someone has a copy of that, please contact me! (Mark Bostick, you’re most likely to have it, if not, it’s good to know one exists in case you stumble across it.) Borum also asked if they were still extracting gold from the meteorites, as he had read about the gold content years ago. Egads! I now understand how much Nininger must have hated the publicity the gold-in-meteorites article caused.
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| Mr. Borum finder of 455 gram and 42 gram meteorites |
The stone pictured below is a mere 42 grams. Clearly, there is some fusion crust still on it. It was found years ago while trapping near Edmonson. If someone has a picture of Edmonson (a) or (b), I’d like to see it. A sample will be sent to the lab this week.
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| 42 gram close-up |
The last meteorite is old and weathered, found near Kress, Swisher County, Texas. Mass about 455g. There is almost no free iron left, and the weathering has discolored the chrondurles to where they have good contrast to the matrix. But the best feature of this meteorite, is not the chrodrules, not the crust, not the matrix, but that Arizona State Univeristy missed it. Mr. Borum recognized it as a meteorite and sent it to them.
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| 455 gr. meteorite mis-identified as a 'wrong' by ASU |
They did NOT cut a window, but instead broke a tiny piece off the weathered exterior and did a PIXE test (Positron Induce X-ray Emission) which is similar to Gas Chromatograph because it identifies elements present and their relative proportions.
Their PIXE test showed nickel, but not enough to convince them of its meteoritic nature so they wrote the letter below and returned the sample. In discussion with Dr. Ehlmann of TCU, he theorized why they missed it was because the outer weathered part of a meteorite is heavily depleted of many elements. My theory is that some intern got stuck with the job and botched it. But lets not be too hard on them, remember my Wellman (f) that almost got away? (And yes, this meteorite will be for sale, and will INCLUDE a copy of the letter & PIXE printout.)
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| Oopps! |
Metal in the matrix is so rare that I wanted to show a picture with a metal flake showing. A slice of the Kress with a flake of metal is below. The flake is near the top, it is a white dot above the crack and beneath the finger on the left.
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| A slice view of the 455g meteorite (click to enlarge) |
There are several meteorites found near Kress from (a) – (d). I suspect this may pair with one of them, but only the lab can tell. I should hear from them within a few months.
Mr. Borum has another hobby of collecting old toys. I’m not sure if such are collectable in Europe or S. America, but its something Americans do. He kindly permitted me photo one wall of his collection. He was also nice enough to offer me his copy of Niningers book, “Arizona’s meteorite crater”. I readily accepted and am now finishing the book.
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Meteorites Found and Lost
Another Trapper had stories to tell of Nininger. This particular trapper was from Tulia, Texas (area of the Tulia meteorites) and he told about a cast iron cauldron that was found outside his parent’s house. The cauldron was probably left over from the early pioneers around 1820-1850’s. What was remarkable about the cauldron was that it rested upon 3 Tulia meteorites for its base. Each one weighed several pounds. It makes sense, as there are no rocks and very few trees in Tulia, so the pioneers used what they could find. The Trapper recognized and kept the 3 stones, even though Nininger ‘begged’ to buy them. Regrettably, his father threw them away while cleaning up a decade ago. However, he knows a neighbor with some more Tulia stones, so I’ll work on that angle. :0)
If you enjoyed this Field Report you can find my others:
The recovery of the Wellman.
The hunt for a Mexican iron in the Chihuahua desert that took an odd turn. Great photos of landscapes!
The West Texas account of the car-in-the-ditch meteorite, the Lamesa ‘Bookend’ find, and the 27 kg iron from Matador.
Leaving soon to Denver show! Next - My meteorite expedition to Tanzania, Africa leaves in October. Off to chase old falls and talk to cotton farmers in Africa!
All of my meteorites are for sale. You can email me at mt@blackbartdata.com.