What's the Difference Between a Hot Rock and Meteorite?


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When scanning the ground and your detector alerts over a rock, how do you know to dismiss it as a hot rock versus investigating further to see if its a meteorite? Sorry for the dumb question, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can before my first gold nugget detecting outing next week on Rich Hill, Arizona in the Weaver Mountains.

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The easiest way to say this I believe would be to tell you, each specific area you prospect may or may not have "hot/cold rocks" that signal.

As you start to detect an area without any prior knowledge take note of what they look like if you can hang onto one to show someone that is familiar with the area they should be able to tell you if its a commonly found hotrock from the area.

By making a mental note of their looks you yourself will begin to be able to identify them as common hotrocks from the area.

If and when you are detecting an area and you come across one that gives a signal but doesn't look like the more common ones you have encountered hang onto it for further investigation.

There will be many rocks that give a signal that will turn out to be "earth rocks" ONLY by experience, time spent with your detector will you become more knowledgeable as to what you encounter.

There are some websites that will show you very good photographs of meteorwrongs and also give you some basic skills on identifying them I will post a couple links for you to investigate.

And let me say this also after you discover a couple real meteorites you will have a better grasp on visual identification in the field.

Check out these sites.

http://www.meteoritemarket.com/metid1.htm

http://www.aerolite.org/found-a-meteorite.htm

http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/photogal.htm

Heres a good meteorwrongs photo site

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htm

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