Found Enstatite Meteor?

[exsparky]

Found in an undeveloped field in South Dakota. There was about 5,000# of it.
Relative density of 3.18.
Mohs was less than 5.5, seemed like a penny could scratch them up.
Non magnetic. That's seems real bad. Most Enstatite's seem to be 25% irons so they should be magnetic?
I figured the odds are 1 in 50.
Its been there for decades.
I cut it with a tile saw and sent it to two labs but they never got back to me.
My nine year old has a science fair project on Wednesday. It seems we are No on 2 out of 3.

 

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[ToddsPoint]

I know very little about meteorites but I do know about flint and flintknapping. That stuff you found sure looks like Rainy Buttes silicified wood found in the Dakotas. Here’s a few examples.

 

[Red-Coat]

Enstatite meteorites typically have a bulk composition that includes between 15-25% of iron in a native metallic state with some additional iron as sulphides, but not oxides. Although there are some outliers (both higher and lower), they should still exhibit attraction to a magnet, even at the lower end. Enstatites are a rare group, and low-metal enstatites would be rarer still. The native iron is usually in the form of grains of the nickel-iron alloys kamacite and taenite which, as well as being attracted to a magnet, should be visible as metallic specks on cut sections with the aid of a decent lens. Enstatites are also chondritic, so chondrules should also be visible.

From what you have said and shown, I don;t believe this to be an enstatite, nor any other kind of meteorite.

 

[exsparky]

Here is a cross section I did with a tile saw that I botched.

The cross section is a pretty boring mud color, no specs of anything metallic but there is what could be a fusion crust which is about the only thing that made me think meteor. That and the funky shape of the pointy one and the rounded yet broken parts of the other one.

There are no air pockets of any kind. Its not clay. I don't see anything that makes me think organic.

That and the relative density being right where it should be.

It was 2 miles from a river and 20 miles from anything and 50 miles from a gas station.

Maybe a it was in a fire but there aren't any trees there and never have been in a 100 years plus.

My little girl let me cut Mr Big Smooth but didn't let me cut Miss Pointy so I haven't sliced that one.

 

[Red-Coat]

What you are perceiving as a possible fusion crust is no more than a weathering rind from millennia of environmental exposure. Although the density falls within the range of enstatites, it's not diagnostic since there are a myriad of terrestrial geological possibilities with similar density. The featureless interior serves to confirm that this is not an enstatite chondrite.

 

[exsparky]

G

What you are perceiving as a possible fusion crust is no more than a weathering rind from millennia of environmental exposure. Although the density falls within the range of enstatites, it's not diagnostic since there are a myriad of terrestrial geological possibilities with similar density. The featureless interior serves to confirm that this is not an enstatite chondrite.

Great answer. Case closed, its just a rock.