Ron,

I know you have fought this rock being a meteorite and I now understand after talking to others and seeing some of the crop of current meteorites. However, all the evidence points to this being a high silicon rock from Mars. I have been very patient in trying to "out" this rock, but time is getting short. I don't want to hurt you or anyone else, but at some point, the world is going to know that you have had a sample of this rock for a year now. Please reconsider your first opinion. Show your geology friend this note and ask him to determine if the sand from within the vesicles is the same sand of its creation and if it has ever been wet since the rock was made. Dick Reesman of Geochron Labs did the K-Ar test and will be glad to talk to you about this rock and the test.

Frass-71001

This document is a summary of the evidence that the rock recovered in the winter of 1971 is a meteorite, probably from the planet Mars.

The rock was recovered on a ranch where there are no rocks, in a situation where it was known that the rock had not been there the day before, by an observer who was familiar with meteorites.

The rock has been K-Ar dated at 13 million years. The rock was formed by the intrusion of lava into a bed of sand. The lava cooled around the sand creating vesicles that are still filled with sand. The sand that is still there is the same sand involved in the creation of the rock. The rock, the sand, and all of its contents have not been in the presence of liquid water since the rock was formed.

The rock has a composition similar to the high silicon rocks of Mars, like Barnacle Bill. The rock is very delicate. A core sample was obtained by driving a piece of 5/8" copper tubing into the rock. I could have easily driven the tubing completely through the rock. The internal structure is such that most of the walls between the vesicles are paper thin and are very weak. The structure and composition are similar to a space shuttle heat tile and demonstrate a large capacity to dissipate heat, thereby confusing the issue of fusion crust.

The rock shows melting over the entire outer surface. Since the rock is very vesicular, the rock would have presented numerous fine walls to the heat of entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Thus the outer walls are thicker than the inner walls and act much like an eggshell to hold together this very delicate rock. The sand near the outer vesicles show melting, indicating it was in the rock before the rock re-melted during entry into our atmosphere. All of the sand has been removed from all the outer vesicles to a depth of about 2-3 cm. This could only happen when the rock came through the atmosphere. There is no dirt or Earthly signs of weathering.

The volcanic portion of the rock is magnetic and many particles within the sandy material from the interior of the rock are also magnetic. These particles would have to have been there when the rock was made. When I took the core sample, many of the vesicle's contents came out intact. They are the same shape as the vesicles and appear to be the remnants of a water system that had been dry for some time. The particles are held together by the bonds that formed when the water evaporated. Once water is added back, the particles split apart.

The volcanoes of this region that are in the 10 million-year-old range have been so eroded that only the central shaft is left remaining. This rock could not survive a single day of rain on our planet, much less 13 million years of weather. I have looked at the lava from many volcanoes in this region and this rock is totally different from any Earthly lava I have seen. The walls are much to thin, and the structure and composition appear different. The sand from within the rock is not similar to the sand where the rock landed.