Meteorite? Identification help.

[Marvin Jenkins]

Hello everyone
I need some help identifying what I think maybe a meteorite find. The details of the find is too complex to detail here and may waist too much time if it turns out to be a meteor wrong.

The first picture is a handful of the finds. My description is as follows- Brown to black water polished pebbles. Heavy for there size. Blobby and fluid in there appearence. 
 

Despite looking metallic they are not magnetic. Now, I have more than the handful, so I selected a small unremarkable sample and ground off a corner using a high speed grinding wheel.

It ground just like I was shortening a steel bolt but with no sparks. Within 60 seconds I had to drop it as it was incredibly hot. Upon inspection the ground area looked like metal. Closer inspection with magnifying glass showed what looked like a random metallic structure full of white to brown crystals distributed evenly throughout the ground area.

I dropped it in 23% hydrochloric acid and absolutely no reaction was observed. I did the same thing with other pebbles from the find site and violent fizzing occurred.

The inevitable Google search, results in one candidate, an Ataxite meteorite. I know a little but not enough to identify my finds, any help would be most greatfully appreciated. 
 

Marvin

[callisto]

This might be handy-  http://meteorite.unm.edu/meteorites/meteorite-museum/how-id-meteorite/

 

Mark

[John]

In order to be certain you will need to get a sample analysed by an accredited laboratory such as the Natural History museum:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/meteorites-and-meteor-wrongs.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Oiw--e06gIVGdGyCh0gMQG5EAAYASAAEgJkuPD_BwE

The vast majority of finds turn out to be of terrestrial origin.

Ataxite is a type of iron meteorite.

 

 

[Waddensky]

Aren't ataxites magnetic? Could be chondrites. But so many small fragments on a single location, each with their own fusion crust... It seems unlikely to me. You can mail the photos to the BIMS for a quick opinion.

[Marvin Jenkins]

11 hours ago, Waddensky said:

Aren't ataxites magnetic? Could be chondrites. But so many small fragments on a single location, each with their own fusion crust... It seems unlikely to me. You can mail the photos to the BIMS for a quick opinion.

I was thinking along your lines at the beginning when I thought they might be NI/FE meteorites which would be magnetic. Because they are not magnetic I think I am right in saying they cannot be Slag, Heamatite or Ferrusmanganese.

My find is a curious one. They all come from one deposit of 20/30 drainage pebble from a gravel pit local to me in France. I ordered several tons too many when installing a septic tank six years ago and the remaining 1 to 2 tons has sat at my place since then.

I noticed a few in the pile and gave a handful (in the picture) To a friend who googled them and said dead ringer for Ataxites. After that I sifted the whole pile and have my own collection. They appear to be water worn which concurs with being in a buried bed of beach pebble extracted for aggregate purposes.

Is it possible that a large Ataxite has been broken up and polished by wave and pebble action then buried, only to be extracted as drainage pebble? I have been a landscape gardener here for twenty years and this concentration of these objects are a first for me. I have never seen any others in the hundreds of tons of granular objects I work and build with, all of which come from the same gravel pit.
 

I also read that Ataxites are extremely high in nickel with grains of silica distributed within them. My friend with the handful of samples has looked at their structure with a micro scope and there appears to be a metal base structure with different colours of tiny crystal grains throughout the body! No veins of crystals just individual specks from one mm and smaller.
 

I will look at your link and thank you very much for getting in contact.

Marvin