Meteorite Identification

[TheNewCatfish]

A friend of mine has a rather LARGE round stone on his portch. He assures me he retrieved it from a crater on the shoreline of a lake. He believes it is a meteorite. The thing must weigh nearly 40 lbs. I checked it with my metal detector which indicated it did contain some small amount of iron. However, the rock is not magnetic. Does not respond to a magnet. So I conclude, the ferrous material in the rock is too small, too deep or so spread out in the stone a magnet doesn't react to it. Could be a "false" iron reading on my metal detector as well.

Question is: Do ALL meteorites contain ferrous (iron) material detectable by a magnet ? Or do some meteorites contain NONE or very little ? Does anyone know ?

I have taken a snapshot of this rock (meteorite) and sent it to a nearby observatory for identification. If it IS an actual meteorite in the 40 Lb. range, it would be quite a discovery.

 

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[taz42o]

Its possible but very very unlikely to find a meteorite that a magnet will not stick to.
A metal detector will give a strong signal on a meteorite.
If there is nothing visual to tell its NOT a meteorite you can test density or nickle content or send some to a university to be tested.

http://geology.missouri.edu/resources/rockid.html

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/id/metal.htm

http://www.aerolite.org/found-a-meteorite.htm

Rocks laying where water recedes often leave a crater like area around them.

 

[Tuberale]

Some meteorites have little or no iron content. The only way to confirm such stones is to do an expensive analysis of the stone, which costs $500 +/-.

Most meteorites (80+ %) have enough iron to attract a magnet. But some meteorites look so much like common earth rocks they are unlikely to have a second look taken.

There are some features of meteorites that can help, like regmaglympts. But even those are not conclusive.