I bear in mind after my uncle Richard died, his expedition to Antarctica got here up many times in tales – and I knew he was actually into meteorites, I noticed his private assortment proudly displayed on the mantle in his examine. I began to surprise if any of the meteorites within the nationwide assortment had been from the identical location he went to, or may even be from his expedition.
The following time I discovered myself within the museum, I took photographs of meteorites labeled “Antarctica” in order that I may return and look them up later. There have been fairly a couple of! It seems the stark local weather, excessive distinction of ice to rock, and the movement of ice depositing meteorites up towards rocky outcrops all make it the proper location to search out actually extra meteorites than could possibly be collected precisely, and that they would go away “lots of” for future expeditions moderately than rapidly grabbing them with out good information.
So listed here are my questions and the way I discovered the solutions:
- What expedition was my uncle Richard on in Antarctica?
- Which meteorites within the photographs embody dates that overlap with when my uncle was there?
- Can the specimen be tied to a his particular discipline season and placement?
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| Listing of 1982-1983 ANSMET discipline season individuals contains my uncle Richard |
My subsequent puzzle is the date on the museum placard, which merely says 1982, so does that imply the 1981-1982 discipline season or the 1982-1983 discipline season? I discovered a clue looking for “Pecora Escarpment 82506” the precise title of meteorite, and located a report that stated the primary time the Pecora Escarpment was looked for meteorites was the 1982-1983 season, that means PCA 82506 could not have been discovered within the 1981-1982 season.
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| My picture of “PCA 82506” from the gathering on the Pure Historical past Museum in Washington DC |
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| Antarctic Meteorite Location and Mapping Mission (AMLAMP). Antarctic Meteorite Location Map Sequence Explanatory Textual content and Person’s Information to AMLAMP Knowledge. Edited by J. Schutt, B. Fessler and W. A. Cassidy. LPI Technical Report 93-07, printed by Lunar and Planetary Institute, 3303 NASA Street 1, Houston, TX 77058, 1993, p.145 |
The following and very useful supply I got here throughout is a prolonged doc that talks all concerning the 1982-1983 expedition and mentions the PCA 82506 meteorite time and again. A rock of some observe I think, as over a dozen publications refer again to it.
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| Discipline and Laboratory Investigations of Meteorites from Victoria Land and the Thiel Mountains Area, Antarctica, 1982-1983 and 1983-1984Â DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5479/si.00810274.28.1Â |
Lastly, in an excerpt from the guide 35 Seasons of U.S. Antarctic Meteorites (1976-2010): A Pictorial Information To The Assortment I discovered the precise date for the gathering of PCA 82506 listed as December 28, 1982 putting it firmly within the 1982-1983 discipline season that included uncle Richard.
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| Righter, Ok., Corrigan, C., McCoy, T., & Harvey, R. (Eds.). (2014). 35 seasons of US Antarctic meteorites (1976-2010): a pictorial information to the gathering. John Wiley & Sons. |
Is not the web wonderful?!? I used to be capable of finding all this from my dwelling laptop, linking my late uncle to Antarctica, and to my informal go to to the museum.
