Best,
Today I suddenly discovered a very strange looking boulder in our walking path. I’m pretty sure it’s never been there before.
The stone is teardrop-shaped and has a mainly dark brown color on the outside, but also a white discoloration in some places. However, the tip of the teardrop shape is yellow-green and just a bit glassy. The stone is NOT magnetic and is odorless.
Could this be a meteorite?
Thanks for the info,
Mark
Answer
Dear Mark
It seems to be raining meteorites lately – so to speak.
You have found a nicely rounded pebble, but I have to disappoint you – like many before you – it is certainly not a meteorite. There are no erosion processes in the universe that lead to the rounding of a chunk of space debris.
I recognize the smooth grey-white speckled surface of some strongly rolled flints. Such flints come from a chalk limestone cliff by the sea (such as at Dover). If they fall from the cliff, sometimes with a large part of the cliff (see eg this cutscene), they will end up in the surf zone where they will be rounded and polished until they look something like your copy. The chalk limestone is very soft, completely pulverized and washes into the sea quite quickly, but the hard flints remain on the beach and form a dark gray carpet at the bottom of the cliff.
Answered by
Prof. dr. Robert Speijer
Geology – Paleontology – Paleoclimatology. You study geology in Leuven!
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/
.