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Got out to Franconia early this week. My main objective of course was to score some nice space rocks, but I also wanted to try out White’s new Goldmaster 24k VLF unit to see how well its proprietary XGB automatic ground tracking would handle the extreme variable ground in the northern half of the strewn field. Anyone who’s searched this area with a VLF detector knows how tedious it can be dealing with the endless volcanic hot rocks, and while the 24k handled the ground matrix extremely well and running a low sensitivity eliminated a lot of the hot rocks, there still remained plenty of them to deal with. Although I did find one half-gram iron with the 24k, with all the hot rocks it was hitting I just couldn’t cover enough ground to increase my odds of making a good find.   As many of us detector operators know, in hot rock hell pulse-induction and zero-voltage transmission technologies are king. So I put away the VLF and brought out the Minelab GPZ 7000 equipped with the 19” coil for maximum ground coverage...time to get serious! With a quick adjustment I was able to ignore all but the largest and most insidious hot rocks and cover a ton of ground, netting several small irons and 2 stones at 27 grams and 75 grams. But the best part was just enjoying the peaceful serenity while roaming the wide open spaces of the Franconia strewn field, and even spotting a wild burro.

I have been using the GM1000 for maybe 20 hours, covered some (often difficult and shifting) ground and found what I normally would find, mostly trash, most interesting so far an old key. So far so good. It is not impossible that there might be some gold to find, but highly unlikely. I am trying to dig every clear signal. I am mainly out to find meteorites, and I am still unsure how not to overlook a possible meteorite. Very, very often I would get a clear signal with iron characteristic. When I remove the ground cover, it often slowly fades away. Not sure what that is. Sometimes I do find small corroded iron crumbs (then the signal does not fade). But most often nothing. Also, very often the GM1000 would give a really strong signal, but it is not possible to localize, because it just fades away even before I notice if it was an iron signal or not. I assume due to the auto tracking, so this might indicate a hot rock. But what would I have to expect from a meteorite? If there is iron, also as quite tiny grains, the signal should not just fade, is this correct? So I do not have to worry about the signals from hot rocks? Thanks for help.

I found an unusual item yesterday while metal detecting at the farm. It is egg shape and has the feel and appearance of metal, but doesn't sound off on the detector. It is a little over 2 inches long by about 1 inch across. It is heavily pitted with some crusting in some of the pits. Also there are small inclusions (visible with a loupe). Some of these inclusions are stony in appearance and a couple look similar to crystal quartz (extremely small). It seems very dense and heavy for its size and weighs 80 grams (2 3/4 oz.). The soil in the area has no natural stone or metals in the matrix. There was an old house site in this area. Any help with possible ID will be appreciated. MT

Got out to Franconia on the north side yesterday with some friends. The 2 center meteorites are OC's, and the small outlying pieces around them are irons. Until next time, Dave

"This is only the fifth fall in Arizona and the first one in the Valley," said Arizona State University professor Laurence Garvie, curator of the Center for Meteorite Studies. "He is asking anyone within two miles of Deer Valley Road and 75th Avenue in Glendale to look for black rocks in their yard that weren't there before." Full article here

Sorry for a maybe dumb question, but just what is the draw of meteorites? I understand that it is unique and interesting but is there any other reasoning? I am not saying monetary returns but more like registeries or some acknowledgment of finds etc? Again I apologize for this if dumb. I mainly got interested in detectors for gold as I am getting a little fragile with age and no longer play like mountain goats. I am brand new to detecting but just from reading this forum I have decided coin, beach, jewelry hunting may fit me also. I understand relics and "old" items from history. But rocks from space? Now if they were large enough to mine that another story, but I would want to find it here on earth unless it fell ages ago. A dinosaur didn't like theirs. LOL Thanks, Dan

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/02/16/arizona-meteorite-fetches-record-breaking-237500-at-auction.html

A US professor has established a rock used as a doorstop is actually a meteorite worth thousands of dollars. Mona Sirbescu from Central Michigan University was asked by a local man to inspect the object he had kept for 30 years after finding it on a farm. The 22lb (10kg) meteorite was the biggest the geologist had been asked to examine in her career. The rock, which came down on farmland in Edmore, Michigan, in the 1930s, could be worth $100,000 (£77,000).“ For complete article go to https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45765458

A handy FAQ from the natural History Museum about meteorites, meteors and other small celestial bodies that Earth encounters in its travels around the Sun. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/meteorites-and-meteor-wrongs.html

Got out to Holbrook Arizona to hunt Meteorites with a few friends. Ended up with 168 Grams of meteorites, a few coins and items from the railroad. Eyeballed the meteorites, and used the Equinox 800 for the items. The Equinox 800 would hear the LL/LL6 Holbrook meteorites with no discrimination. As soon as I put discrimination on, I could not hear the meteorites. I could not hunt with discrimination off because of all the trash on the side of the railroad tracks... Dave

Fragments of meteorites fell in southwest China’s Yunnan Province on June 1 and two pieces fell through villagers’ house roofs while one fell on the dry ground and another one was found in a cornfield. https://www.shine.cn/viral/1806045767/

Here is a good video of the meteor striking the ground turning it into many meteorites! https://www.amsmeteors.org/videos/?video_id=1222 Mitchel

Many meteorite hunters prefer to search for space rocks using only their eyes to spot them on the ground. But when the area is strewn with dark colored terrestrial rocks that can mimic the look of a meteorite, relying on visual clues becomes a tough go. In the photo below, I had just found a stony meteorite exposed on the surface with my metal detector. Test your skills and see if you can spot the chondrite.

I was going out to watch the meteor shower tonight and detect nuggets in the desert but it is cloudy. If you are in clear skies this is the night! https://www.livescience.com/62376-lyrid-meteor-shower-before-nibiru.html?utm_source=notification Mitchel

Pictured is a 15 gram meteorite fragment I came across while detecting for gold nuggets in the Arizona desert today, in an area with no recorded meteorite falls. The stone is from a relatively recent fall; the primary and secondary fusion crusts are still quite black and unoxidized. Now the real fun begins: searching for more fragments!

Searching a new spot in the sunny Arizona desert this morning netted 3 small nuggets. While aimlessly swinging the mighty Zed back to the truck for lunch, a faint signal stopped me cold; what at first glance appeared to be a small magnetite hot rock turned out to actually be a meteorite fragment. After lunch, the Zed went to bed and out came the Gold Monster. While searching for more fragments, the GM 1000 signaled with a strong non-ferrous target response that turned out to be another small gold nugget. All in all, a fantastic day. More details here:

Heard the news lately? Today a fireball exploded over SE Michigan and registered a 2.0 earthquake. Now, since we know the rock exploded, how to find the meteorites on the ground ,if they made it that far? I always heard that when the meteorite light goes out, the rock can still be 5 miles high? So, how would you trace it to where the rocks fell to earth exactly? It was seen in 6 states and Canada. -Tom

I'm going to stretch the topic just a little bit and tell you that you don't always need to use a metal detector to find meteorites! This meteorite was found with my eyes and a magnet on Coyote Dry Lake. It weighs 13g and is only my second find there. The metal detector was in the car. We don't normally use them on a dry lake but sometimes you can. We used the GB Pro one time on a dry lake bed in Nevada to test meteor wrongs vs meteor rights. Let's say we only tested targets we saw and didn't swing randomly. Not all lake or meteorite areas are suitable for metal detectors. Holbrook in northern Arizona is an example that comes to mind. If you don't see it then you aren't going to find it. The ground is too mineralized for a detector to work. Mitchel

A Jeweler I know wanted a piece of Gold Basin meteorite to play around with. I rough-polished an end piece and some slabs for him to look at...he picked aan interesting end piece to set with gold and diamonds...I think it is very nice and pretty.... Diamonds Ltd. 2812 Fletcher Parkway El Cajon, CA 92020 619-698-3583www.diamondsltd.com I have no financial interest in the piece nor the company....

Back in 2004 I stumbled upon a chondrite sitting on the desert pavement just west of Quartzsite, Arizona. I picked up 16 fragments within an area of 1 square meter. The meteorite was classified as the Diablo Pass L6 ordinary chondrite; details here: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Diablo+Pass&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal table&code=35516 Diablo Pass main mass: Fast forward to today: I was passing through the area and decided to revisit the site. Someone had toppled the small stone monument I had erected to mark the find location, presumably to look for more pieces of the meteorite. Apparently they missed a few; after removing the monument stones, I proceeded to detect 10 small fragments from the area, many of which display remnant fusion crust. Their combined mass is just over 6 grams.

Arent meteorites / meteorite hunting with a metal detector still exempt from placer or lode claims? I know there has been some nice meteorites found in the Rye area's. Just be sure to leave the gold right where its at if you detect it on someones claim... :) Dave

Got out yesterday with 2 buddies to Franconia, AZ. meteorite hunting. It's been a long time since getting back out there. I didn't miss all the hot rocks, WW2 bullets and trash, digging 2 foot .50 cal bullets, ect. The GPZ handles hot rocks pretty good, but not out there, there are some hotter than a goats ass in a pepper patch. ? But overall it was a nice day, and we all beat the skunk. Here are some H Metal Iron meteorites found out there. Dave

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/what_to_do.htm#actlabs Salutation at this very informative website us below: (and yes, do click on those read this and this links too) Prepared by: Randy L. Korotev Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Washington University in St. Louis Please don't contact me about the meteorite you think you've found until you read this and this.

Made it out for a half day this past weekend, covered a lot of ground, but was worth it. The biggest was 5.4g and was over a foot down, 3 inches into hard caliche. Loving the GPZ. Did well with the meteorites as well. Chris