Pallasite??

Juicyfroot76

Greenie
Mar 29, 2020
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Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

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Welcome to the forum.

There's no reason why a pallasite would be "found along with tektites and chondrites". They're three completely different things with differing origins. Tektites also have very specific geographical strewnfield localities and - unlike meteorites - are usually found some distance from the impact sites with which they are associated. Are you sure about the identity of these other specimens? Could we see them please and where exactly were these things found?

Pallasites belong to the stony iron group and so should have visible metal. I don't see it. They would also be strongly magnetic. Is your specimen magnetic? It's theoretically possible to find just the stony/olivine portions of a pallasite from which all the metal has rusted away and it then wouldn't necessarily look much different from terrestrial olivine, but that would be highly unusual... especially a piece as large as you are showing. Presumably the third picture is the same specimen pictured by reflected light rather than transmitted light. If it is, then it doesn't show anything with the typical appearance of pallasitic material.
 

Having doing a little research I did read in several places that not all pallasite are magnetic. There are a few rare ones that can be found. It does contain some type of metal and is extremely heavy. I will take pictures of all the meteorites I have found in a small area.
 

Having doing a little research I did read in several places that not all pallasite are magnetic. There are a few rare ones that can be found. It does contain some type of metal and is extremely heavy. I will take pictures of all the meteorites I have found in a small area.

You didn't answer my questions. Where are these specimens being found and is this specimen magnetic or not? If you can see metal and it's not magnetic it's not a pallasite (or a meteorite of any kind). Pallasites are defined by being a mixture of approximately 65% olivine, 30% Iron-Nickel alloy and 5% chromite, phosphate and troilite by bulk volume. The iron-nickel content is then usually around 50% by weight.

I think you have misinterpreted what you have been reading. As I said, it's theoretically possible to find detached pieces of pallasitic olivine for which the surrounding metal has long since rusted away. Those pieces of isolated olivine may or may not exhibit magnetism. However, I would repeat that if you can see metal it will always be magnetic. Can you provide a reference link for what you have been reading? It's also possible you have misconstrued determinations of the degree to which the iron in pallasites has been magnetised during its solar system history (ie behaves like a magnet, rather than just being attracted to a magnet) and the degree to which it still exhibits the ability to create a magnetic field. That's not the same thing as whether or not it's magnetic in the sense of whether it will be attracted to a magnet.
 

Sorry mate. Lost the site for a while. And yes I found 2 that are magnetic. Bout to grind the non magnetic ones up and find out what the heavy minerals are in it. Its more than likely a volcanic specimen. I found a lot of different gems and all sorts of metals nearby. Have an awesome piece of raw copper that looks like it was poured straight out of a crucible onto the sand. But I know that couldn't have happened where I found them.
 

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