Is it a meteorite?

[okstone]

The stone I found in the Gobi of Xinjiang has a total mass of 1860 grams. It can be attracted by a strong magnet. I polished some parts of the stone, as shown in the figure below. Is it a meteorite? Thank you very much for your comments.

 

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[galenrog]

No, it is not a meteorite. While attracted to a magnet, that, alone, does not tell us much, since many terrestrial rocks are also attracted to magnets.

Neither the cut face, nor any part of the rock shown has any visible characteristics of meteorites.

Time for more coffee.

 

[Kray Gelder]

I don't think so. I looked at the other rocks lying about in your first pic. Smaller pieces appear exactly the same as your example. They all appear to have windblown sand abrasion/polishing.

 

[okstone]

Thanks to galenrog and Kray Gelder, here's the second picture of the first floor, the part touching the ground, but it still doesn't seem to have obvious meteorite features.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Seems like a lot of fractures to withstand the stress of passing through the atmosphere. IMO.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Maybe fragments of the 1908 meteor that hit Tunguska in Russia, it is theorized it exploded 3 to 6 miles up in the atmosphere and if this is in the path that meteor was on, it could be a piece, see if you can find if where you found it was in the trajectory that the Tunguska meteor was on, If you can find trajectory mapping.

 

[Raider19962]

It's a meteor-wrong! I found a few of those in Arizona.

 

[Red-Coat]

It's not a meteorite. Fractures like that are not at all uncommon on stony meteorites (see below) but they're shock features created on impact. Note the smooth ablation surfaces on the specimen below. Meteorites of this type don't typically have the angular irregular appearance seen on what you found.



There's no reason to single out the Tunguska event either. Plenty of other meteorites to choose from... but this isn't one of them. In any case the Tunguska impactor appears to have suffered almost complete destruction by detonation in the upper atmosphere and no reliably identified remnants have been found to date, apart from microscopic spherules. It also came in from a SE direction, on a path that was nowhere near Xinjiang.

 

[okstone]

It's not a meteorite. Fractures like that are not at all uncommon on stony meteorites (see below) but they're shock features created on impact. Note the smooth ablation surfaces on the specimen below. Meteorites of this type don't typically have the angular irregular appearance seen on what you found.

View attachment 1868310

There's no reason to single out the Tunguska event either. Plenty of other meteorites to choose from... but this isn't one of them. In any case the Tunguska impactor appears to have suffered almost complete destruction by detonation in the upper atmosphere and no reliably identified remnants have been found to date, apart from microscopic spherules. It also came in from a SE direction, on a path that was nowhere near Xinjiang.

View attachment 1868311 View attachment 1868312

Thank you. I'm confused by its magnetism. Maybe it's a meteor-wrong.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thank you. I'm confused by its magnetism. Maybe it's a meteor-wrong.

Many terrestrial rocks are magnetic. As a test, it tells you very little on its own.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

It's not a meteorite. Fractures like that are not at all uncommon on stony meteorites (see below) but they're shock features created on impact. Note the smooth ablation surfaces on the specimen below. Meteorites of this type don't typically have the angular irregular appearance seen on what you found.

View attachment 1868310

There's no reason to single out the Tunguska event either. Plenty of other meteorites to choose from... but this isn't one of them. In any case the Tunguska impactor appears to have suffered almost complete destruction by detonation in the upper atmosphere and no reliably identified remnants have been found to date, apart from microscopic spherules. It also came in from a SE direction, on a path that was nowhere near Xinjiang.

View attachment 1868311 View attachment 1868312

I couldn't find a trajectory map that is why I told O.P. to find trajectory mapping.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Ironstone.