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Dear XXXX,

You asked me to prove that my rock didn't come from this region and I have included the information that I believe proves that the rock could not have come from this region. I have been sent, what i am told is the major work involving the volcanoes of NM, Texas, and Colorado. The document is "Rio Grande rift volcanism: Northeastern Jemez zone, New Mexico."  The authors are: M. A. Dungan, R. A. Thompson, and J. S. Stormer. 

I would like to approach the "proof" from several different directions, including the data from this paper.

First let's look at the relationship of the volcanic fields, their drainage systems, and the place I found my rock. The drainage systems don't favor a rock getting from the volcanic fields to my aunt's ranch.

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. Thus, material on or above the ranch would flow towards the Canadian and not from the Canadian towards the ranch as would be necessary.

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. Here is a picture of one of the oldest flows near Raton. If you read the enclosed documents you will find that 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. My rock is 13 million years old and shows no signs of weathering. Look at the piece you have and see if you see any weathering. There is melting on the first piece that I gave David, but I don't believe there are water-related changes on the outside of the rock. Enclosed are some samples from the Raton-Clayton fields. The smallest rock is from Sierra Grande, near Capulin and is one of the samples that plots near my rock on some of the graphs I have made. But this rock is only 2 million years old and is very different from the sample of the meteorite that I sent you. If you compare the two rocks, you will see that the structure of my rock is much more delicate. The red sample is from near Mt. Capulin and is less than 100,000 years old. On Mars, the gravitational pull and the atmospheric pressure would be less. 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. Remember that there are at least 100 people who have seen my rock over the last 25 years that have heard me declare that the rock fell on the Frass Ranch. I have offered to take a lie detector test if anyone doesn't believe in my integrity. The rock fell one night and had never been there for at least 50 years previous .

Now 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. Now there could have been a volcano in this region 13 million years ago, but none of the dates that I have correspond to this period. The enclosed document details the age of many of the sites but has no age near the 13 million-year age of my rock. Most of the volcanoes are either much older or much younger. I was able to find one date of 10ma (Brushy Mountain), so I have graphed the chemistry of these rocks versus my rock. I have had additional tests run and therefore have more points to plot. I will shortly have a more complete set of tests, including the minor elements.

I have plotted the points from Timber Mountain and Brushy Mountain. Brushy Mountain has the only K-Ar test that is near 13 ma, so I have plotted all of these points. Timber Mountain has a date of 25 ma, but there are numerous flows and most don't have ages. I have plotted Barnacle Bill, Yogi, and my samples for reference. The first sand sample (Sand1) was the one I took earlier where I separated out the particles and only tested the very smallest ones. The second sand sample (sand2) came from within my rock near the crevice in the rock. This sample was picked out with a small tool and is just that material that I could pick out without using any leverage against the rock. The third sample (sand3) is a representative sample of material that has fallen out of the rock since I began taking samples. The rock continues to fall apart now that I have broken it. I just wish that I could have gotten you and David to actually spend some time looking at the rock when I brought it to you.

In the enclosed material, I have provided a number of graphs that plot over 60 points from NM and Colorado. I have plotted every point without regard to age. I think it is very obvious that my rock is not related to any of these rocks. Some points match on certain graphs but in almost every case, my rocks stick out from the norm of these volcanic fields and closely match those measurements taken on Mars. Since the sand came from within the rock, all of these plots must be taken as a whole. The really remarkable thing is that every graph is linear for the five plots from my rock. What I think this means is that the rock and its contents have the same source material. The sand would represent older material that has been worked heavily until the silicon content is very high. The rock itself was created by a side vent on a larger volcano. I think this situation (the linear nature of the samples) could only occur on a place like Mars where the systems are more stable and last longer periods of time. On Earth, there is too much going on for a rock to be made 13 million years ago and still include representatives from its past within the rock.

I guess there are many ways to look at these plots, but even though some of the chemistry is similar, there is no pattern that indicates my rock could have come from this region. The chemistry, along with the other details of my rock, are consistent with the Martian rocks. The age factor alone eliminates my rocks as coming from the nearest volcanic fields. One might expect more iron in my rock, but since my rock is only 13 million years old, it would represent the "last" rock made on Mars. This would give the rock plenty of time to rid itself of iron. Also, it comes from a riverbed which would concentrate the silicates and possibly explain the increased calcium.

There is one item that I have never discussed with you guys. Even though it appears to me that my rock has never been wet, there are pieces of volcanic rock that have come from within the rock that do appear to have been wet and rounded by the action of water. These rocks have the clay material stuck to them and were apparently in the sand when my rock was made. The volcanic material of my rock surrounded the sand that existed

where the rock was made. These small pieces of weathered volcanic material are more of a red color than my rock and indicate to me that my rock had to be made by a side vent on a larger volcano. The picture shows a similar situation.

There is no doubt that my rock is a meteorite and that it fell from the sky one night in the early 70's. The melting of the entire outer surface (that you viewed with your own eyes) and the fact that this rock has not been wet eliminate an Earthly origin. Now I haven't plotted every earthly rock in my graphs, but I have plotted many points from all the nearby volcanoes. The document states that this region is very diverse. Some of the chemistry does look similar, but only on random samples and then the ages just don't match. In fact, my rock is most similar to some of the side vents from Capulin Mountain, which is the youngest of all. My rock is more than100 times older than Capulin.

The latest I have seen from NASA indicates that they now think that all the rocks at the Pathfinder site were similar. Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system and I suspect that most of Mars is volcanic. That would mean that most of the surface rocks are vesicled rocks like mine. If we have found 12 rocks from Mars that don't have vesicles, then there should be a lot more like mine that do have vesicles.

The problem is that the "laws" of meteorites preclude round-vesicled rocks as possible meteorites. We now know that this can't be true. I suspect there are a lot more rocks like mine that have been thrown aside by meteorite "specialists," just because they don't meet the rules. The melting you saw is clearly the fusion crust of this type of rock. The outer edges are thickened and melted. The inner surfaces, of which you have a sample, are thinner and very delicate. I am enclosing some of the rocks from the Raton-Clayton fields for comparison. One could never drive a 5/8" piece of copper tubing into these rocks and retrieve a sample from the middle like I did with my rock.

In summary, my rock clearly came from a side vent of a volcano. I believe this situation is represented in this picture from Mars. This system has an apparent water system and what appears to me to be side vents within the water system. All of the sand within my rock would have had to come from upstream of the vent that created the rock. This is why the sand within my rock is so simple in nature. Mars is just not as complex an environment as we have here on Earth.