Meteorite Hunting in Mojave Desert (UPDATED)

[Lowjiber]

Just about the time one starts to figure that MDing is easy, along comes a new challenge...meteorite hunting. rofl We've just moved to Nevada and the challenge of finding meteorites seems interesting...to say the least. Believe me, it's a whole 'nuther world. :yes: I'm a coin/jewelry guy, but total rookie when it comes to finding a rock that fell from the sky.

The darn things can be anywhere! :bangahead01: However, we're in a good location for searching...the Mojave Desert.

Now, I've watched Meteorite Men the same as everyone else. I've come to the following conclusions...

The best place to find meteorites is at the poles. Pretty simple really...if it's dark in/on the ice, it's a meteorite. No testing necessary.
The second best place is a strewn field...the elliptical area along the path the meteor took when falling to earth. That's mostly where the Meteorite Men film their shows.
The toughest place to find them is Everywhere Else.
Once you find a specimen, you can't really be sure it's a meteorite. There are some tests that you can do such as magnetic properties, scratch tests, etc. However, even the Meteorite Men don't have a real identification until it goes to a lab.
I've spent the last twenty years avoiding cold weather and have no intention of heading to a polar icecap in search of a rock (or anything else for that matter). I've done my strewn field research and am currently planning a trip to an area where there are three such fields within a fifty mile radius. However, you gotta get started sometime. So Dana and I headed out for an adventure into Everywhere Else Land (a dry lake bed and the surrounding foothills in the Mojave Desert) this past weekend.

Below are some pics. The specimen embedded in the lake bed looked promising, but failed the magnet test. Don't ask me how a rock got there without falling from the sky, but it was just a rock with a VDI of -45. :rolleyes:

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=416
Here's Dana with her MXT, rare-earth magnet on a stick, and rock hammer. She took the headset off when we got in the foothills...snakes, you know.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=417
Here's my mystery rock that failed the magnet test.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=420
Here's Dana digging a target. The red thing is her rare earth magnet on a stick.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=421Here's my hunting partner. After four hours...still going strong. (I'll try to get White's to give me $100 for the free advertisement. LOL)

Bottom Line: Dana came up with two small suspects that passed the magnet test. I struck out. :ticked:

[del]

looks like fun John i was born and raise out in the southwest most my life but now living in Connecticut and
those landscape shots bring back alot of memories . i wish you both the best on your quest for the space rocks .

[coinnut]

Good luck on them alien rocks lol I'd go nuts if I didn't get a sigal in 3 hours. Hope you don't find any pull tabs out there. :confused: Watch out for the usual critters, snakes, wolves, spiders, scorpions,etc rofl Ticks are sounding a whole lot sweeter now, than what your neck of the woods has to offer. But the weather out there looks nice. Hope you find some worthwhile meteorites.

[SeabeeRon]

Thanks for the desert pics John! 8)

[angellionel]

That does look like a very fun part of the hobby. Keeping an eye out for snakes would have me on edge though. lol

[Lowjiber]

Hope you don't find any pull tabs out there.
No pull tabs. They've been replaced by bullets...not shell casings, BULLETS!!!

[coinnut]

No pull tabs. They've been replaced by bullets...not shell casings, BULLETS!!!


Yikes, that means they are coming from somewhere :shocked04: Don't want to be on the end of one of them :beatdown:

[Ferrous]

Hey John, head out across the dam into Arizona. Take the Temple Bar road east. Just east of that area is a meteorite field. You have to be careful in that area so that you are not in the Lake Mead Recreation area. This field extends south to north. With a little research you should be able to find the area I'm talking about. Good luck.

[Lowjiber]

thumbsup01 Thanks Bruce!!! I'll do the research today, with a weekend hunt in the area.

Dana read your post and is more cranked up now than she was last week. ;)

[Lowjiber]

Hey John, head out across the dam into Arizona. Take the Temple Bar road east. Just east of that area is a meteorite field. You have to be careful in that area so that you are not in the Lake Mead Recreation area. This field extends south to north. With a little research you should be able to find the area I'm talking about. Good luck.

Thanks much Bruce!!!

I did my research yesterday. The Gold Basin is just east of Temple Bar Road. I drove out there to check the area for a weekend adventure with Dana.

The one thing I've noticed is that meteorite hunters are pretty closed-lip about locations. (Imagine that.) However, they can't hide from Google Earth and some good research. I found the Lat/Long of several meteorite strikes and plotted them on Google Earth to locate the strewn field.

After all that effort, I found the following map of the same data in an obscure USGS data base. (County Hwy 143 is Temple Bar Road.)

[Ferrous]

That's the one John. Stop in at the little bar in Dolan Springs and have a cold one while your there. Looks like a good time. Have fun.

[Lowjiber]

NOTE: CLICK THE PICS TO MAKE THEM FULL SIZE.

Yesterday, we headed for the Gold Basin in Arizona. This is a well-documented strewn field from a meteorite that fell millions of years ago.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=423
The first thing we learned was that we've been pretty foolish by ignoring the snake hazards around here. Evidently, the Mojave green rattlesnakes are very aggressive and even more venomous than a diamondback. We bought snake boots and gaiters. Above is me looking like I know what I'm doing. ;) (They only had cammo colors in my size. Dana's are brown.)

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=425
Another thing we learned (related to the snake-thing) was that we needed to put our magnets on longer sticks. Here's Dana with her new, longer stick.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=426
Desert flowers are pretty neat.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=42:dontknow:/img]
After about two hours, I think I lost my Vision. :crying02:

[img]http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/MGalleryItem.php?id=429
Here's Main Street in the tiny desert town of Dolan Springs, Arizona...about 10 miles from where we hunted.

Lessons I'm learning...

Older meteorites (millions of years old) are very difficult to identify by sight. Their crust has pretty much deteriorated and they look like normal rocks. This fall one of the oldest recorded sites in the world...even the Meteorite Men had difficulty in this place. Additionally, the much of the iron in these (L4 Chondroites) meteorites has oxidized and they are not as magnetic as more recent samples.

We found two specimens that might be older meteorites and four more that appear to be newer (black, magnetic, etc.) I'll try to post some pics later after we've had some testing done.

I'll add that I kicked my Vision into the gold program when I came to a wash in the desert. I only got one really good signal worth digging, but it turned out to be a small piece of a lead bullet.

We had a blast...regardless of how the specimens test out. Actual swing time was about four hours, but we had a lot of adventures along the way.

[coinnut]

Wow John, That sounds harder than our colonial hunts lol I'll stick to cellar holes, where the snakes run from you rofl Glad you guys enjoyed your time there and real glad you are taking serious precautions about the snakes. I hope some of them samples turn out to be what you are looking for. I wonder, does it cost a lot for a lab to run them samples to see if they are meteorites??

[Ferrous]

I hope you found a couple. Looks like a great time. Sure brings back a lot of memories. Like the time my buddy and I found a case of dynamite near there and .......I better save that story for another time.

[Lowjiber]

I hope some of them samples turn out to be what you are looking for. I wonder, does it cost a lot for a lab to run them samples to see if they are meteorites??

Since I posted the hunt above, we've done some of the testing ourselves. We went yesterday (Sunday) down to the local rock shop and ground small flat surfaces on each of the four samples (a couple of others didn't look as good when we got them home) to examine under an eye loupe. By comparing them with some books we've got, all appearances are good...so far.

The next test that we're going to do is a chemical test for nickel. It seems pretty simple after we gather the materials. If they pass these home tests (magnet, eye loupe, nickel), we'll be pretty sure they're the real thing. Three are pretty small (dime sized) and the other is about 3 in diameter. (I'll get some pics posted soon.)

There are a couple of legitimate sites on the web that will do the tests that you see on TV for a reasonable price. We'll likely send a few in to have them checked out. The three small ones appear to be the same configurations/compositions, so we'd only send one to hold down the price.

I'll add that the folks at the rock shop have seen a lot of meteorites over the years and they thought these looked real. We realize that doesn't mean squat, but it's nice to know anyway. We're just having fun and don't intend to sell anything. However, we don't know enough about this yet and need to follow up a bit until we get it right.

[moseng]

Nice write up John! And of course photos of Dana are always nice to see, but that old coot has got to go! rofl And let her know I am in favor of her keeping the V! :grin: You do know the V3i is out don't you? :drool:

I hear a good meteorite specimen can sure fetch a ton of bucks!! Good luck man! I'll have to try my luck at it sometime! Thanks for the post!

[Lowjiber]

Hey Mike....

When you come to Vegas we'll go out to the Gold Basin. Dana likes you (for some reason ;) ), and I'll bet she'll take a day off work (cough, cough) to go with us.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

[applevalleyjoe]

Hey John, have you and Dana been back out again? Any further news on your specimens? Interesting thread...

[Lowjiber]

Hey John, have you and Dana been back out again? Any further news on your specimens? Interesting thread...


We've started hunting again...now that winter has finally arrived. :rolleyes: The cooler daytime temps make the rattlesnakes less of a factor, but we really have to watch for flash floods because we go pretty deep into the desert washes. (The Jeep is great, but doesn't float. lol )

We had five specimens actually confirmed last year. We did all of the home tests...nickel, etc. Since all were L4 Chondrites, we only sent one sample in to Univ of Arizona for confirmation.

[russellt]

i watched MM for the first time a couple of nights ago . just another twist on our addiction .. you guys find a mess of em ya hear thumbsup01

[BOWSER]

i spent some time at echo bay ,i know the snakes you speak of,i wouldn't detct there for any amont of money.good luck to you fella's.

[pulltabsteve]

Great pictures John! Sounds like a real fun time.....except for the snakes!

[Nitro 54]

Looks like a fun time wandering around the desert thumbsup01 8) 8)

[Beefcake]

Beautiful looking place John... I've never been to the desert... One of these days I'll make it out there to do a hunt with you two! Thanks for sharing the neat pics!

[SeabeeRon]

Glad this thread popped back up! Beautiful pics buddy!!

Don't recall if I ever told you, but our first son was born up in Fallon when I was stationed at the Naval Air Station there. Used to love the drives out into the desert. One of my jobs as an Equip Oper was to grade out the bomb holes out in the practice ranges. Was always afraid one of those Jet Jockies would mistake my grader for a bombing target!! :shocked04:

[starman2]

:perfect10:, A perfect 30 on your story, and pics. The MM, are what got me started with metal detectors in the first place :smitten:. My other hobby is Astrophotography, and astronomy. I started watching MM. And I thought. I've been taking photos of the stars long enough. It would be cool to be able to find one myself :happydance01: Course, until I started digging up coins. The meteorite hunting was kind of put on hold. But I still intend on doing some searching. If I can ever get out of the parks. Again, Great story and photos. Good luck in your new venture!

[Herb]

Thanks much Bruce!!!

I did my research yesterday. The Gold Basin is just east of Temple Bar Road. I drove out there to check the area for a weekend adventure with Dana.

The one thing I've noticed is that meteorite hunters are pretty closed-lip about locations. (Imagine that.) However, they can't hide from Google Earth and some good research. I found the Lat/Long of several meteorite strikes and plotted them on Google Earth to locate the strewn field.

After all that effort, I found the following map of the same data in an obscure USGS data base. (County Hwy 143 is Temple Bar Road.)

When I was younger I drove jeeps all over the Mohave desert and never stopped to look for meteorites. I feel I know the desert intimately. Now my granddaughter is interested in rocks so I am going to take her camping in the desert. What I read, many scatter fields are related to dry lakes because they are easy to find. However, most of the desert is a likely candidate to be a scatter field. Meteors have been falling every where for millions of years. I am assuming many flat planes with rocks scattered on top of the sand/soil are untouched and unknown scatter fields. I suspect it will be easier to find good specimens there because they have not been searched by thousands of hunters. I assume looking in proven scatter fields has a lower probability of finding good meteorites.
FYI - If any one is looking for strong rare earth neodyminium magnets, you can find them from magnetic jewelry suppliers like the Magnetic Hematite Shoppe.