Meteorite discovery rewrites Australian goldfields history
For several years, David Hole kept a significant rock at home. He found it near Melbourne, Australia, initially thinking it was gold. However, his discovery turned out to be far more valuable.
David Hole kept the rock at home for many years, believing it contained gold. To his surprise, the rock turned out to be much more valuable than he had anticipated.
The story, reported by the website focus.de, took place in 2015. At the time, Hole was exploring the terrain in Maryborough Regional Park. His metal detector indicated the presence of a heavy, reddish rock embedded in clay.
Hole took the nugget home, assuming it was a gold nugget. This assumption seemed plausible since Maryborough is situated in the Goldfields region, renowned for significant discoveries of precious metals in the 19th century.
The Australian tried various methods to extract the ore. He used a rock saw, an angle grinder, a drill, and even acid, but none penetrated the rock's hard surface.
A valuable rock. He thought it was gold
After several years, Hole decided to take the rock to a local museum for specialists to examine. It turned out that it was not a gold nugget but a rare meteorite dating back 4.6 billion years. Studies suggest it most likely landed on Earth about 1,000 years ago.
The rock, now known as the Maryborough meteorite, weighed 37 pounds. Museum geologists explained that its substantial weight is due to dense forms of iron and nickel that differ from those found in Earth's rocks.
A museum employee used a diamond saw to cut a piece of the meteorite, revealing small, solidified droplets inside. These were remnants of silicate minerals crystallised from the gas that formed the Solar System.
The stone found by Hole was a chondritic meteorite from the H5 group, which orbited the Sun around 4.6 billion years ago. Gravity gradually merged these materials, leading to the formation of Earth and other rocky planets.
