Question regarding impactites

Do any of you guys know if impactites can have any meteorite material mixed with them? I have a meteorwrong which has voids. It was picked up by my great-grandfather and grandmother in 1910 after a known meteorite strike in their area. They saw the light and heard the boom, went out the next day looking for it and dug it out of the ground from an impact crater.

The reason I ask is that it's a really strange rock. It is from an area that had no human inhabitants except for Indians and homesteaders, in other words, no foundry. It landed in a part of the state where there are virtually no rocks.

Once I decided it looked nothing like a meteorite, I decided to grind a spot to see what it looked like. The diamond belt on my grinder was wearing down; it was very hard. It smells funny; sort of sulfurous, sort of dusty. I've smelled another rock that it reminded me of a little, but don't remember what. It appears to have a metallic substance under a sandy, then dark crust. There appear to be crystal/rock particles in the metallic stuff. The streak is brown. The specific gravity is very light; around 2.1. I'm going to try a bigger piece, as I don't believe that that s.g. is accurate. Nothing fluoresces. I used a spectroscope on a little piece of it and it seems like it has nickel in it. Very small pieces that I broke off can be picked up with a rare earth magnet. I honestly can't figure the damn thing out.

I know that there are reports in the 1910 newspaper of one meteorite going through the roof on an Indian's house on the nearby reservation, and more found in an area 16 miles away as late as the 1960's, but for all intents and purposes it is an unrecorded strike.

I wondered if a large enough meteorite struck somewhere nearby, could it possibly melt the dirt and throw up a rock and be what they found? There is no metal ores of any significance at all in the area and I wondered if some of it could have been transferred to my rock from the meteorite?

I have lots of pictures but don't want to bore you guys. I'll post a few so you can see what I'm talking about. It weighs about 3 lbs. 10 oz. and is about 6"x 5" x5". The first is a overview; second the ground spot; third a close-up done with my Celestron that is approximately 1/4" or 6mm. The ground spot looks black and reddish but when you shine a light on it, it looks metallic.

Any input or advice would be welcome. I know that people lie, exaggerate and sometimes are just mistaken, so it won't hurt my feelings if my ancestors were wrong. I just have no idea what it could possibly be.

Debbie

That is a great item to keep in the family or pass down to younger family members when the time is right.

All I can offer is.... 8)

Pic 1 and 2 look sort of simular to a Fulgurite.. This is formed when Lightning hits Sand... Massive temps around 1800Deg are involved to form these... but most Fulgurites are hollow tubes... some come in a solid mass tho...

Pic 3 looks more like a Meteorite..

When they impact the Earth, massive temps are involved as well and yes I suppose you could get a 'transfer' or mixing of Minerals....
Have you tried a Google picture search of the 'item'... ?

Have you thought about taking your Specimen to a University that is a member of the Smithsonian Institution for their appraisal/Identification ?... Then again you may never get it back...

What are the laws regarding Meteorites in the USA?
They are very tough on them here in Australia and they can't be taken out of the Country and in some states here, you must hand them in...

Find out your laws about Meteorites Before you try and 'Identify' what it really is...

Or put it on the shelf and call it a Nottosureite....(Not-too-sure-ite) :lol:
A very Interesting item tho.. Let us know...

LW.....

Hmmm, I'll have to find out what the laws are for collection in 1910 for the U.S. It fell and was collected on private land, so I think it's legal.

I am troubled by the irregular shapes of the rocks in the metallic looking stuff. They seem too sharp for meteorite material.

There is a university in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area; about 300 miles away and another in Lubbock; 500 miles away, that do identification. I found a link last night to a person at NASA here in Houston that you can email, so I think I'll do that after I research the law.

I have a friend that has a Raman spectroscope and that would probably tell me a lot about the composition of this thing, but she was affected by the flood and is still not living in her house. I think the Raman is okay, it was about 6" away from being submerged, but I believe it's in storage until they fix her house.

Thanks for the input, I really do need to research the law.

Debboe