Difference Between Holes, Cavities, and Vesicles in Meteorites
When people think they have found a meteoriteWork in progress. A solid natural object reaching a planet’s surface from interplanetary space. Solid portion of a meteoroid that survives its fall to Earth, or some other body. Meteorites are classified as stony meteorites, iron meteorites, and stony-iron meteorites. These groups are further divided according to their mineralogy and Click on Term to Read More, much more often than not, what they found is actually a terrestrial rock, often referred to as a meteorwrong. These rocks come in all shapes, sizes, colors and textures, and sometimes include holes. In posting these specimens for review, they may be told that “meteorites do not have holes”. Though generally true, this statement misleading because a simple internet search will uncover images of actual meteorites with holes. This article is written to clarify this issue.
Though our definitions for holes and cavities differ somewhat from the dictionary definition, they are better descriptors than what is normally used to describe meteorites.
Holes can be caused by ablationGradual removal of the successive surface layers of a material through various processes. • The gradual removal and loss of meteoritic material by heating and vaporization as the meteoroid experiences frictional melting during its passage through the atmosphere. The resulting plasma ablates the meteor and, in cases where a meteor Click on Term to Read More or various types of terrestrial weathering and generally describe a voidHuge region of space that is unusually empty of galaxies. Voids are not entirely empty, but are underdense and contain far fewer bright galaxies than average. that extends all the way through a specimen.
Cavities can also be caused by ablation and in that case are called regmaglypts, or by the weathering of softer or more degradable material within the meteorites such as troiliteBrass colored non-magnetic mineral of iron sulfide, FeS, found in a variety of meteorites. Click on Term to Read More in iron meteorites.
Vesicles are caused due due trapped gases expanding within the molten material/melt at its time of formation and are rarely bigger than a few millimeters, though in extremely rare cases one or two larger vesicles can by be larger. Vesicles inside meteorites do not occur due to its voyage through our atmosphere, though bubbles/vesicles can form on the outside crustOutermost layer of a differentiated planet, asteroid or moon, usually consisting of silicate rock and extending no more than 10s of km from the surface. The term is also applied to icy bodies, in which case it is composed of ices, frozen gases, and accumulated meteoritic material. On Earth, the Click on Term to Read More during entry.
