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Kansas Soil Yields Massive Meteorite

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the that-rocks dept.

ROMRIX writes "The Discovery Channel is reporting that Scientists have unearthed a 154 pound meteorite from a Kansas field using ground penetrating radar. The article also states that this type of radar may someday be used on Mars to locate water in a future mission."

39 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Superman? by DaSniper · · Score: 3, Funny

    So superman real right? heh knew it all along.

  2. Don't wait until we get to Mars... by Arathon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are plenty of other places in our own world that could probably benefit from the discovery of water...try Africa. It seems like maybe that should be a higher priority?

    1. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by jginspace · · Score: 4, Informative

      "There are plenty of other places in our own world that could probably benefit from the discovery of water...try Africa.

      Hum, check out the predictions: http://www.unep.org/vitalwater/21.htm - the US and half of Europe could be joining the club soon.

    2. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by Shimdaddy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but since when does Africa have massive quantities of water frozen slightly beneath its surface? Plus, I'd always heard that most of Africa has decent access to water, but it was the purification that was the problem -- hence few people dying of thirst outright, and most getting sick of water borne illnesses.

    3. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by inKubus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Too bad most water is used for irrigation and landscaping. Basically, we just need to cut down on our beef consumption (which wastes more water than almost anything) and close a few golf courses.

      --
      Cool! Amazing Toys.
    4. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by Arathon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      From what I read, the technology isn't limited to "slightly below the surface." Secondly, you might find that people in the Sahara would disagree with you about massive quantities of water. Lastly, I'm not qualified to recommend where specifically the technology be used to benefit people; just qualified to suggest that perhaps Mars shouldn't be the first place we think of when we think about looking for water... On the other hand, your point about purification is well received. From what I have heard, you are correct, and purification is a major issue in Africa.

    5. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by jginspace · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "since when does Africa have massive quantities of water frozen slightly beneath its surface?"

      People following that logic ten years ago were telling us oil was going to have run out by about now. Using new technology they found extra reserves where they couldn't have looked before.

      But yes, using groundwater to alleviate the country's problems doesn't sound like a great solution. Lack of seasonal fluctuations in supply will lessen the awareness of scarcity (ie they'll leave the taps dripping) or they'll use it to irrigate thirsty crops like cotton. Whatever the case it'll run out - quickly.

    6. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by foxhound01 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ground penetrating radar will likely not be as effective in places like africa which tends to have a lot of salt in the ground in areas where water is no longer available. This technology is often used by the military in order to find things like hidden weapons and landmines, though is virtually ineffective in many desert areas due to the sodium deposits from salt. fortunately for mars, there probably isn't the problem with salts in the soils, and this method should be highly effective.

      --


      Linux is to the internet as Duct Tape is to the Universe.
    7. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by killjoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Get rid of the lawns. Lawn grass required over two inches of rain per week (or the equavalent in sprinklers) and does nothing. Plant native grasses, put in rocks, put in bark, or better yet plant some vegetables and feed yourself too.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    8. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by rucs_hack · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem is exotics (being any plant 'out of place')

      Local plants don't need watering, or they wouldn't survive in the area to start with.

      Plus 'weeds' (being usually perfectly good plants that just aren't exotics) will normally prosper during hosepipe bans. We've had one over the last six months, and the local plants in our garden have barely noticed.

      Ideally people would switch to local plants and save water. Alas that's about as likely as people not wanting dyed clothes (dying eats loads of water) or makeup, or any of the other things that we use to display our prosperity.

    9. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by MoralHazard · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To paraphrase the late, great, Sam Kinison, why don't we just give them Winnebagos so they can go where the water is?

      But seriously... Most of Africa's population ISN'T living in the desert, like you're imagining. Africa has lots of other climates, and most of the populated areas get plenty of rainfall. (That makes sense, doesn't it? People tend to congregate in areas where they don't DIE OF THIRST.)

      Honestly, Africa has suffered its droughts and famines, but rarely is it the case that there is no food. It's like the Irish during their famines: people are too poor to buy food, too poor to afford high-tech irrigation and fertilizer, etc. And generally, the poverty comes from bad government--they don't have access to education, health care, and the other niceties that us Slashdot posters take for granted.

      So here's the REAL plan: give them Winnebagos so they can go where the good government is.

    10. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by value_added · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Get rid of the lawns. Lawn grass required over two inches of rain per week (or the equavalent in sprinklers) and does nothing. Plant native grasses, put in rocks, put in bark, or better yet plant some vegetables and feed yourself too.

      A good idea where possible, and definitely something to strive towards, but not realistic. First good luck on finding native grasses; at best maybe you may find an Indian who remembers them being mentioned in the stories his or her great grandfather told. Second, rocks, bark, etc. may be appropriate or desirable as a decorative element, but you can't expect entire neighbourhoods to be designed (or redesigned) using that approach. Do that for a house in a typical subdivision, and you can expect complaints from neighbours about lowered property values, not to mention complaints about the bark that winds up all over the sidewalk. And lastly, grass does have benefits: it lowers the ambient temperature in the summertime, increases humidity levels (a big plus in semi-arid areas), generally looks and smells nice, keeps down the dirt and dust, and kids have been known to have fun playing on the stuff. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's not unlike planting a tree; you get lots of intangible benefits for a minimal investment. The birds, insects, and local wildlife will thank you, and your dog will be just as grateful.

      Here is California, like other places, it's a real issue. The trend is to use reclaimed (read sewer) water for municipal landscaping, and municipally provided compost (read sterilised human waste) on large lawns. Admittedly, those two approach only mitigate the problems, but there's no way I'd want to live surrounded by plain or decorated dirt. That's not to say building subdivisions in Las Vegas where every house has a big lawn is the way to go. Put another way, here in California the hillsides are nice to look at, are great for hikers, but no one aside from coyotes wants to live there. And I'm not even sure about the coyotes.

    11. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by Jonny+do+good · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Fireboy1919,

      I don't know what you are talking about, almost everyone in Florida has an irrigation system and uses it for 6 months a year. During the dry season the grass will dry up and die without irrigation. I don't think people should use grass in Florida, it isn't native and hogs valuable groundwater reserves. The recent increase in sinkhole formation in Florida is correlated with the decline in the water table, particularly in Central Florida. Sinkholes are a natural occurrence but they haven't happened nearly as often historically as recently. Very few people there use native plants to fill their yards and I really think everyone should.

    12. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by flyingfsck · · Score: 2

      Lawn does nothing??? Comeon, lawns are excellent at fixing carbon. Think of all those clippings going off to be buried at a land fill. If it is always buried together, then in a few million years, it will make a nice coal bed to be exploited again for electricity production...

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  3. Using ground penetrating radar, huh? by patio11 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd hate to get in the way of that radar if its moving 154 pound meteorites. My back of the envelope math suggests you could use it to microwave pizza leftovers the size of a small country. Like China.

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    1. Re:Using ground penetrating radar, huh? by potatoeater · · Score: 2, Funny

      Goody, more penetration experts.

  4. Wait, where in Kansas? by nurhussein · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it Smallville, Kansas? Because, uh, if it is, that's no ordinary meteorite...

    1. Re:Wait, where in Kansas? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Is it Smallville, Kansas? Because, uh, if it is, that's no ordinary meteorite..."

      A friend of mine put a sample of the meteor in a blender then drank it. Now she's the most popular girl in school! I tried it but pftbbtb, I can only talk to bugs and some flannel wearin hick won't leave me alone.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    2. Re:Wait, where in Kansas? by Simon+Garlick · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Kansas State Board of Education today released a statement denying the existence of any "meteorite", instead describing the object as "a rock put in place by God when he created the Earth 6000 years ago".

      --

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      PGP Key ID 0xCB8FF658
  5. How many more have been mislabelled as mere rocks? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder, over the many millions of years that the earth has been around, how many other meteorites of this size or larger have struck ground and subsequently been covered with layers of dirt only to be uncovered later by construction workers who don't understand the value of the space rock, much less identify it as one.

    One good thing about our travels to Mars is that every single person who will be there, at least for the early phases of the colony, will be scientists, so we won't have to worry about mislabelled meteorites.

  6. Can't be more than a few thousand years old... by benna · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't let the board of education find out about this.

    --
    "It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
  7. Documentation? by Asm-Coder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The dig was likely the most documented excavation yet of a meteorite find... "We know it is recent," said Carolyn Sumners, director of Astronomy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, as she surveyed progress on the dig. "Native Americans could have seen it."... The Brenham field was discovered in 1882. Scientists have since traced pieces of the shower as far away as Indian mounds in Ohio, indicating the meteorites were traded as pieces of jewelry and ceremonial artifacts. Certainly the most documented, but, I see a few hundred years of undocumented excavation in spite of that. I hope other excavations do better than that.

  8. Some kind of radar-excavator? by jginspace · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Scientists have unearthed a 154 pound meteorite [CC] from a Kansas field using ground penetrating radar.

    Should have read "located with the help of ground-penetrating radar".

  9. actually by oohshiny · · Score: 3, Informative

    The largest meteorite found in the US is 15 tons, so 154 pounds isn't all that "massive". What makes this unusual is the fact that it was found using ground penetrating radar, a method that may also be used on Mars.

  10. So not only are there tornados in Kansas by Centurix · · Score: 2, Funny

    But they have meteors muscling in on Dorothy's turf. It sounds like a terrifying place to live.

    --
    Task Mangler
    1. Re:So not only are there tornados in Kansas by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Funny

      How much you want to bet they found a dead witch under the meteor?

      --
      Monstar L
  11. Found on A Farm... by Thakandar2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    UPDATE: The meteorite found beneath a Kansas family farm was unearthed today. While digging, a pod like container was found with an infant inside. The infant was healthy, as shown when it threw a rattle given toit over 100 yards. The Kents, who own the farm, said they are planning to raise the baby and name it Clark.

    1. Re:Found on A Farm... by krotkruton · · Score: 2, Funny

      Umm, if the meteorite is buried, that means Superman is already living on Earth. If the meteor was found burning in a field, it would mean he just arrived. This is a confirmation of the existence of a baby from another planet and a cover-up by a kind-hearted farming couple, not an announcement of such. Damn, at least put a little thought into your comic book reference jokes.

  12. We knew the value of space rocks since antiquity by Moraelin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    See, before humans figured out how to smelt iron out of ore, there were weapons made out of meteorite iron. A certain number of meteorites are nearly pure iron, and better yet, some is even already alloyed with stronger metals. They were rare and more expensive than gold, but it was a weapon which could pierce right through a bronze cuirass, and was often credited with magical properties. Kings and nobles paid a small fortune for them.

    Some of the myths around that kind of equipment persisted even after it was known how to just smelt iron ore. E.g., the celtic myths about cold iron against elves. The only iron that can be processed without heating from start to finish is, you guessed, a chunk of stuff that was weapon-grade iron from the start, not ore. That's more often than not a meteorite.

    So other than maybe modern times and construction crews with bulldozers, you wouldn't just throw away such a rock if you found one. You'd sell it to a smith for a small fortune, and he'd make a weapon for a king and sell it for a bigger fortune.

    --
    A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
  13. Other benefits of GPR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    GPR is a pretty common geophysical technique. Yes, it can be used to find meteorites, and yes it can (and will) be used for a future Mars rover mission. Such a system is already in development.

    GPR is also used for many other things, like:
    - groundwater contamination
    - finding buried garbage
    - finding voids under roads
    - finding corpses
    - determining stratigraphy of surficial sediments

  14. Some background on meteorites by maggard · · Score: 4, Informative

    For comparison several tons of meteoric material enters the Earth's atmosphere every day. If you've roof gutters try running a magnet over the accumulated sediment in the bottom of them, much of the metallic material collected thus is likely recently extraterrestrial in origin. This dust is considered an important part of the hydrologic cycle, providing upper-atmosphere nuclii for water to condense around and form raindrops.

    Of meteoric material that reaches the Earth's surface structurally intact (roughly 1cc or larger) there are only about 500 or so objects a year, of which around 1% are recovered for study. The rest are finds of older falls.

    These finds are easiest in plains where they stand out in the soft soil with little other stony material. Another good source is permanent ice & snow fields. In both wind erosion & frost heaving can leave these sitting out on the surface for the collecting. "Dust bowls", when local vegetation dries in a drought up and winds scour the soil away, and the many retreating glacers due to global warming, both yield rich harvests. There are also places where a larger meteor broke up at low altitude and showered the area with a rich concentration of smaller bits.

    Lastly there is an active market in meteorites, for both hobbyist collectors and those who ascribe religious or spiritual aspects to these stones. Unfortunately their collection is typically undocumented, so any possibility of determining their age or circumstance in situ is lost. That they go directly into private hands means that they are generally unavailable for research. Not all meteorites are of great scientific interest, but several rare types do contain important clues to the nature of the early solar system and the current makeup of asteroids & other like objects.

    --
    I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
  15. "The most documented excavation" by njchick · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The real story is that the radar allowed scientists to know in advance that the meteorite was there, so they were able to study the soil above the meteorite:
    The dig was likely the most documented excavation yet of a meteorite find, with researchers painstakingly using brushes and hand tools to preserve evidence of the impact trail and to date the event of the meteorite strike.
    This allowed to calculate when the impact took place:
    Even before they had the pallasite meteorite out of the ground, the scientific experts at the site were able to debunk prevailing wisdom that the spectacular Brenham meteorite fall occurred 20,000 years ago. Its location in the Pleistocene epoch soil layer puts that date closer to 10,000 years ago.
  16. Weeds by Cr33pybusguy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I would like to clarify about your weeds comment. At least in Alberta Canada (part of the great plains the bread basket of the world) ahref=http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/dept docs.nsf/all/acts4705?opendocument/rel=url2html-95 8http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs. nsf/all/acts4705?opendocument/> This list of weeds is pretty much standard for Canada and (my guess) the states. It's also a safe bet to say that 99% of them are NOT native to north america. Case in point the tumble weed is from Russia. I know it ruins all those spaghetti westerns.

    --
    Hee Hee The drinking bird does all the work!
    1. Re:Weeds by Cr33pybusguy · · Score: 2, Informative

      Goddamn I need to learn HTML if I'm going to post more often.
      The link is
      http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.n sf/all/acts4705?opendocument
      Cut and paste until I learn.
      A nice simple online guide reference would be nice if any one knows one.

      --
      Hee Hee The drinking bird does all the work!
  17. For those hoping for a photo... by OneSmartFellow · · Score: 2, Informative

    It took me several scans of the linked website to notice the photo foolishly placed in what is rapidly becoming the de facto column for advertisements.
    Here is a link to the full sized photo for those interested
    http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/10/17/meteorite _tec_zoom0.html?category=technology&guid=200610171 10000/

    Note to website developers: If you use 'standard' layouts like this, don't bury information in places people have grown accustomed to seeing adverts !

    1. Re:For those hoping for a photo... by Nuffsaid · · Score: 4, Funny
      Note to website developers: If you use 'standard' layouts like this, don't bury information in places people have grown accustomed to seeing adverts !
      You are so right! In order to see the picture, I had to remove the ad-blocking duct tape from my monitor!
      --
      Nuffsaid
      ________

      Don't know about his cat, but Schroedinger is definitely dead.
  18. We Live on an Elseworld by aussie_a · · Score: 2, Funny

    This proves Superman was raised by Indians 10,000 years ago (so no, he wouldn't have fought us white men going to America). Wonder what he did back then. Did he help plant many of the religions? Was he still a moral person, or was he a pirate? Did he travel the world, or stay with his tribe? Sounds like a pretty interesting Elseworlds story to me. Although the writers would probably ruin it and have an Indian Lex Luthor discover Kryptonite.

  19. Re:We knew the value of space rocks since antiquit by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Interesting
    See, before humans figured out how to smelt iron out of ore, there were weapons made out of meteorite iron. A certain number of meteorites are nearly pure iron, and better yet, some is even already alloyed with stronger metals. They were rare and more expensive than gold, but it was a weapon which could pierce right through a bronze cuirass, and was often credited with magical properties. Kings and nobles paid a small fortune for them.

    cf: Turin Turambar. You probably wouldn't want to spend too long with that sword, mind...

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  20. Re:As the mods have kindly pointed out by fprintf · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bush was only born in Connecticut and then went to college here. From what I hear, he grew up in his formative years (e.g. Toddler through Middle School) in Texas. I'd say that makes him more Texan than a nutmeger.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_w._bush#Early_ life

    So don't blame him on us either!

    --
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