Mysterious Meteorites Found At Antarctica

© Allan Street, 2008


During 2006, the discovery of a set of 2 huge meteorites, found in Antarctica, set the scientific community ablaze with excitement as to what new information they might hold for us. Previously to this only 6 meteorites had been located in the Antarctic region, and most of those were discovered shortly after the turn of the 20th century, around 1912.

Since their discovery in the Antarctic region, these two mysterious meteorites have caused nothing but consternation for the scientists who are involved in researching them, and to present day, the origin of these meteorites is, so far, unknown and undeterminable.

Being thoroughly researched by many of the worlds best scientists, these meteorites needed an identifying name, and so became known as GRA 06128 and it’s partner GRA 06129. They were secured from a region of the Antarctic, that was formerly used as a burial ground for the Nunatak Indians, who were inhabitants of the region at one point.

Various descriptions of the huge space travelling rocks have described these meteorites as being kind of Ochre coloured, similar to rust, as well as having a salty composition and releasing an odour of sulphur, similar to the smell of rotten eggs.

Controversy arose, when a team of scientists in charge of researching these meteors, for the University of New Mexico, handed in an analysis of them that claimed that the likely origins of these meteors was indicated as the planet Venus, or possibly our satellite, the Moon. However, with the claims of this team, and the controversy surrounding it, there came a lot of other researchers, independent of the University of New Mexico, whom after their own analyses, disputed the original findings and offered their own theories as more likely.

The analyses contributed by the research team, went on to say that of these two meteors, the first, named GRA 06128, had a very similar appearance to the rocks that were retrieved by the Apollo 16 astronauts, who recovered their specimens from the lunar highlands of the Moon’s surface. The difference, however, between these meteorites and the rocks retrieved on the Apollo 16 lunar mission in 1972, was the occurrence of high levels of sodium in the Atlantic meteorites. For this reason, there is still scepticism as to their lunar origins.

Also found, in recent analysis, using more modern and hi tech equipment and procedures, we have been able to determine that the age of the two meteors, are actually older than is the surface of Venus, and so it would seem, that these meteorites could not have come from Venus either.

Although the origins of these meteorites have yet to be determined, and remain a mystery to us, some of the worlds most prominent scientists continue to work away at discovering the origins of these chunks of rock. One such scientist is Allan Treiman, working for the Lunar and Planetary Institute of Houston, who was recently involved in hands on experience with the mysterious meteorites.

Offering his statements on his findings and research about these meteorites, Treiman goes on to say “From what has been reported so far, it is pretty clear that the meteorite is not from Earth, or the Moon, or Venus, or any of the common sources of meteorites”.

So far, the information that has been presented about these meteorites by the various teams of scientists that are reporting back about them as their investigations continue, is still very limited, yet it is growing larger and larger as we learn more about the meteorites. Below are just some of the findings reported back about these meteorites:

These two meteorites are large in size and slab shaped, and their composition is of grey coloured rocks that also contain pieces of black glass within them.

Other findings have suggested that these rocks, upon analysis and after removing an amount of the crust that underwent Earths weathering and conditioning while sitting here, presented similar results as did testing done on a rare kind of meteorite known as a Brachinite. These meteors are known to be the remainder of planets that once orbited between Mars and Jupiter!

Other further reports also stated that not only where these meteorites very similar to the Brachinite variety of meteorites, but that they also held very close similarities to another rare kind of meteorite, known better as Chondrites. A Chondrite meteorite differs from Brachinites, in that, they are what remains from the creation of an asteroid, as opposed to once being part of a planet. These meteorites, the Chondrites, are the most commonly found meteorites, and make up a large percentage of those already found. However, this is disputed, as both of the meteorites presented partial burning and melting, which is not found with other Chondrites. This would indicate that these meteorites are not of the Chondrite family.

Not being one of the more commonly known types of meteorite, the Chondrites, further research was done into these two meteorites and it was then determined that they could not be the other rarer type of meteorite suggested either. Both meteorites being analysed were found to hold high levels of Feldspar, being a mineral that is not found within the composition of Brachinites. Based on these findings, the meteorites were neither, Chondrites, or Brachinites.

Researchers who are involved in the study of these meteorites are now explaining that there are two major mysteries about these meteorites that has so far eluded them. The first mystery is the question of the origins of these meteorites, from what source did they come, while the second mystery remains as the question of “What occurrences at the source, were responsible for the unusual mineral composition of these strange meteors”.

When the true story of the origins of these two mysterious meteors is finally discovered, the tale they have to tell us will surely advance our knowledge of cosmic events, and evolution of asteroids, to be more exact, and may well be a vital key to our unlocking the birth and history of our own planet Earth’s home, our Solar System.

About The Author:
Allan Street is a professional writer and owner of the Shadow’s Articles Blog. He has written numerous published articles of his own, since the mid 90s, and for many others as well, helping new website owners and ezine, newsletter or opt in list creators, to develop quality, fresh and up to date content for their projects. You can search through a growing list of Allan’s latest articles, to be found at his new blog, Shadow’s Articles:
http://shadowsarticles.blogspot.com/