So, I am hunting for MicroMeteorites (MM) in the sea sediments I recovered at almost 1500m deep North East Gran Canaria (Spain). This is my first deep sea sediment extraction and the first time I analyze such sediments.

The sediments contain rather few magnetic particles and very few spherical magnetic particles. As a consequence there are quite few MM to be find. But still, it is a good new the sediments are uncontaminated (or almost uncontaminated) by anthropic spherules.

Two experts in micrometeorites accepted to give me a help. These are Scötte Peterson, from Mineasota in the USA and Jon Larsen from Olso, Norway, author of the book "In the Search of Star Dust". I sent them some samples of the sediments. Scötte already received the samples and immediately found a nice barred olivine in them. Jon Larsen should receive the samples in the next days.

In the meanwhile I found a few micrometeorites pretenders. Very small all of them.

Here is a picture of one of them: 


This picture has been done using a metallurgical microscope and some computer stuff. The picture is nice but it does not show the main body of the particle is actually semi-translucid. Not 100% convincing as an extraterrestrial material.

The best would be to make an EDS analysis using an electronic microscope but I do not have access to this extremely expensive facilities.

The next approach was to try to take a picture showing the translucid material. To do that I had to discard my brand new metallurgical microscope and make my own device with a camera and some lenses. I still have to learn about that. Here is the first attempt:


I tried to make it extremely rigid but I failed somehow: the images are blurry due to external vibrations. I ended building a seismic detector !

Still I was able to take this picture of the same particle I mentioned before:


I will have to redo the DIY camera support and lighting (it will take long as I will have to buy some parts). The image is less sharp and some details have been lost. But the translucidity is now visible. Additionally, the particle seams to have a very slight aerodynamical shape. I would personally think this is a glassy olivine micrometeorite with a iron-nickel bead. But I also admit it is a bit unclear.

Please, feel free to leave your comments.

Thanks



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Group of terrestrial spherules

Image
NOT GOOD ! This is probably the worst you can find while looking for micrometeorites. I found it in the deep sea sediments I recovered. Many micrometeorites have a spherical or aerodynamical shape (if they melted when entering the atmosphere). Most of them also show one or more metal beads. So finding a particle with spherical shape and metal bead is good. It should be good. But micrometeorites are singles. They were alone in space, they should remain alone on the earth. Finding a group of 2 or more micrometeorites means these are just not micrometeorites. I found this group of spherules with metal beads which would have been good candidates if they were alone. Y have no idea which terrestrial phenomenon on the earth produced these nice imposters . But this is disappointing as this reduces the probability other glassy candidates with a metal bead  I found  are extraterrestrial. The need of a (complex) chemical analysis is now higher.
Read more

A machine selecting spherules from deep sea sediments

Image
I am working on a machine that could select spherical micro particles from deep sea sediments. It is based on a inclined vibrating plane on which the spherical particles are rolling down. After a few adjustments it seems it works quite good. This picture is a sample of non magnetic particles selected by the machine. I think these spheres are from animal kingdom. Maybe eggs. The drawback of the machine is it also discards many spherules. That would be unacceptable working on dust from urban roofs. But the deep sea sediments, even if difficult to recover, are virtually infinite. Once one find a way to recover deep sea sediments, discarding part of them should not be much problem. Here is a good micrometeorite pretender I found using the machine for the first time on real unchecked sediments (it is translucid): I also find this weird twin that is very probably terrestrial. Opinions on the machine and on the micrometeorites pretenders are welcome. Thanks, Gauthier
Read more

Chloridric Acid for cleaning Calcium Carbonate deposits on micrometeorites candidates

Image
The particles I find in the sediments from the deep water sometimes look like "dirty". I wondered if this could be a layer of calcium carbonate. 1500 meters deep is quite above the Calcium Carbonate Compensation Depth (CCD). T he water is oversaturated in disolved calcium carbonate and this leads to a slow precipitation at the bottom. A possible solution would be cleaning the micrometeorites candidates with chloridric acid in low concentration. Fortunately the Calcium Carbonate reacts strongly with any acid and produces carbon  dioxide (gas) and dissolved calcium chloride. Here is a first attempt. I see part of the yellowish deposit is actually Calcium Carbonate but it is not only that. Between the strips of this possibly barred olivine micrometeorite, the yellowish/brownish color is apparently not Calcium Carbonate.
Read more