Is This A Meteorite?

[Jeff McClendon]

21 hours ago, West78 said:

I appreciate your comments everyone but unfortunately I'm unsure if anyone could possibly identify this "rock" on this forum by a mere picture.

 

You are probably right about photos not being the best way to identify an object. But you posted photos and asked for opinions. None of us asked you to. If you don't like my answers that is fine with me.

One thing is fairly certain. That object in your photos is most likely not a naturally occurring "rock" unless there has been volcanic activity in your area at some point in the last 500 million years or so  and there is an outcropping of obsidian on your land. As far as I know, any volcanic activity was way older than that in your area and all evidence of it is long gone. I am not an expert on the rocks of Alabama but I know a lot about the rocks of Georgia where I grew up and where I studied geology in college. I know of no occurrences of obsidian in Alabama. That would mean there are igneous rocks in your area. If you are near or south of I-85/US highway 80 all of the rocks in your area that formed or were deposited there (not hauled in from somewhere else) all the way to the Gulf of Mexico are sedimentary.  In your area I know of no other rock that looks like your specimen. There are some minerals that look sort of like your specimen, like flint, chert, chalcedony, etc. 

In my opinion, from your photos (and yes I own and have found meteorites), your specimen is not a meteorite or meteor impact glass. Visually it has several characteristics like the way it has fractured, some layering around an inner core of the same material, it appears to have opaque to translucent areas that point towards slag or some other form of melted silica. 

If I thought it had a possibility of being a meteorite or a tektite I would be one of the first to say so. The fact that you say there is more of it on your land does not change my opinion that it isn't from a meteor. In fact, it makes me think even more that there may have been smelting, blacksmithing, glass making a slag pile from a railroad or road building on or near your location at some point in the last hundred or more years.

This is from Geology.com

Slag

is one of the substances most commonly mistaken for meteorites, as it appears burned and melted on the surface and often sticks to a magnet due to its high iron content. It is used in road and railroad building as ballast and even in the manufacture of fertilizer.

Stars Fell On Alabama refers to the Leonid meteor shower, which happens every year and can be seen over much of North America for sure not just in Alabama. What we see as "streaking or shooting stars" in the sky are actually very small objects. Few of them make it to the earth's surface. I try to watch it each year.

[MSC]

I have to agree, it is not a meteorite, I have found several. There are a few sites that you can access to research meteorites or leverites. I believe this is a leverite. 

[West78]

I don't know what else it could be really.I mean it definitely is not slag it's not highly magnetic just enough to push or pull a magnet from astring.It appears to be melted and I know where at places you can find it inside of a 50foot tall cliff deposited in a long continious flat  section where no road has or ever will be or smelting melting already looked at historical maps and such.

 

[Hardtimehermit]

It is not a meteorite, just as other members have said. Man has picked up and dropped things since the beginning, and just a tip most meteorites will have a strong pull on a magnet, unless you had a planetary meteorite which is even more rare. Keep looking if you want to find one. Try know fall areas is your best bet when starting out. Good luck and HH.

ht

[GB_Amateur]

2 hours ago, West78 said:

I don't know what else it could be really.

You might want to reconsider that statement, if you expect to have any credibility left.  (Probably too late for that, though.)

Did you only come here to get answers you wanted to hear?

How's the reading of that Washington University webpage coming?   You're sure good at asking questions, but so far don't seem too good at answering them.