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Originally Posted by eburacum45
With the crater filled with groundwater, how would José Isitsuka have obtained a sample of the meteorite? Would a small portion have been ejected during the impact, or did someone slub around at the bottom of the crater?
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The meteorite will disintegrate into many small fragments which will be scattered across a wide area. This is what happened at Sikhote-Alin and also Wabar, Henbury, and other small impacts. You can buy fragments of these meteorites on the internet as a result.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eburacum45
The first meteoric crater since 1947 is a remarkable event, if true; and it looks like it may well be. However the reports of illness associated with the fall are almost certainly hysteria.
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Quite probably. If something that large fell near me I would probably be a bit neurotic as well!
However, if the groundwater was rich in arsenic, there is the possibility of arsenine being released. If the meteorite was a carbonaceous chondrite there is the possibility of hydrogen cyanide and hydrogen sulphide being produced. So I would not completely rule it out. reemember, we have not been this close to an impact before. As I recall it was some weeks after event that the first ground parties reached the Sikhote Alin site because of its remoteness, although it had been spotted from the air within a few hours.
Jon