Comparison with Local Volcanoes
When I first began investigating the origins of the Frass
Meteorite, I tried to gain the help of the University of Arizona. After
some amount of squabbling over the rock, I was finally told that no study of the
rock would begin until I could prove that the rock didn't come from Earth.
I proceeded to study all of the local volcanoes within about 300 miles of the
landing site. I discovered that no volcanoes were active at 49 or 13
million years ago. In addition, no volcanoes were active within the United
States during the early '70's when the
rock
landed, eliminating the possibility that the rock was a volcanic bomb from some
terrestrial volcano. Additional examination of the
chemistry showed that the rock was not related
to any volcanic system within 300 miles of the landing site.
First let's look at the relationship of the near-by
volcanic fields, their drainage systems, and the place I found the meteorite.
The drainage systems don't favor a rock getting from the volcanic fields to my
aunt's ranch, as her ranch represented the "summit" between two drainage
systems. Her ranch drained to the south, but literally over her eastern
most fence, the drainage was to the North.
The landing site was on the North side of the Canadian River near the town of
Canadian, Texas. The nearest volcanic field is the Raton-Clayton field, which is
about 160 miles to the west of the landing site. As you can see, there are no
drainage patterns that could lead the rock to the Frass
ranch. The drainage for the Raton-Clayton field is mostly due south where it
eventually runs into the Canadian River and then travels NE until it passes
Canadian, Texas. However, the dam for Lake Meredith was built in the late
sixties and the river was dammed by the time I found the rock in the early
1970's. There is additional drainage that runs mostly east through Oklahoma, but
it is a separate drainage system with no connections to the ranch area. The
drainage on the ranch would be from North to South at the point where the rock
landed since it is on the North side of the Canadian River.
Logically there is no way for the rock to have arrived the night before I found
it and yet be created 13 million years ago (and never be wet) in a volcanic
field several hundred miles away. I have found pieces of volcanic material in
and around the Canadian, but it is very dense material that is well worn. It is
not something I can break with my fingernail as I can the meteorite material.
The next nearest volcanic field is the Ocate field, which is basically west of
the Raton-Clayton field. The Ocate field also drains south into the Canadian
River. Maps in the included documents show the relationship of all the fields.
These two volcanic fields are the only ones that are east of the southern Rocky
Mountains. The
Sangre de Cristo
Mountains separate these two fields from the Taos and San Luis fields of New
Mexico and Colorado. There are no volcanoes east of the mountains that are more
than 8 million years old. This eliminates the possibility that my rock came from
either of these two fields. At the beginning of this
document,
is a picture of one of the oldest flows near Raton. This region is an
example of inverted topography. The "mountain" that you see is all that remains
of these volcano flows. The picture shows a volcanic flow that apparently filled
an old river bed system. Over the last 8 million years, the ground around these
flows has eroded leaving only the volcanic material, which now sticks up like a
mountain. You can easily see what 8 million years of earthly weathering has done
to this volcano.
The majority of the Frass Meteorite is 13 million years
old and shows no signs of weathering, only the melting that occurred when the
rock cam through our atmosphere. I don't believe there are
water-related changes on the outside of the rock. See
water experiments for more information.
On
Mars, the gravitational pull and the atmospheric pressure would be less than on
Earth. This would allow the liquid lava to support itself in making more
delicate structures. Also, the temperature on Mars is less than Earth and this
lava would tend to cool very quickly without giving internal elements time to
crystallize. Thus the material is very uniform. Most of the inclusions seen were
particles in the sand when the lava moved through it. Since the lava cooled
quickly, many of the particles just stuck to the lava and were not melted. Other
particles were melted together to form small rounded globules. One can see all
of these features in the sand from the rock.
Now if we look
at the remaining volcanic fields, we see that my rock would have to travel at
least 300 miles (over a mountain range) to get from any of these fields to the
ranch. All of the drainage for the Taos and San Luis valleys is south via the
Rio Grande. This river flows south to the Gulf of Mexico. I think it is highly
unlikely that this rock could have come from any of these volcanic fields.
The rock fell on the ranch one night and had never been there for at least 50
years previous .
Now I guess it is possible that there were volcanoes erupting somewhere in the
Taos field 13 million years ago. However, that period seems to be a resting
period with little volcanic activity. The Taos and San Luis volcanoes apparently
started about 36 million years ago and continued until about 20 million years
ago. About 10 million years ago, the eruptions started anew and continued almost
until the present. About 4 million years ago was the height of activity. There
could have been a volcano in this region 13 million years ago, but none of the
dates that have been recorded correspond to this period. Most of the volcanoes
are either much older or much younger. I was able to find one date of 10ma
(Brushy Mountain), and I have graphed the
chemistry of these rocks versus my rock.
All chemistries and dates were obtained from "Rio Grande rift volcanism:
Northeastern Jemez zone, New Mexico." The authors are: M. A. Dungan, R. A.
Thompson, and J. S. Stormer