Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
OK. I sent these pictures along to a geologist I know. He said he couldn't make a definite ID without holding it in his hands or busting it open.
He did not think it was a meteorite. His best guess was that it was a cobble of weathered metabasalt that came from the north via glacial and/or river transport. The pockmarks are crystals that have prefferentially weathered out.
I think the only question he cares to have answered is this one:
"Is it valuable?"
I think the only question he cares to have answered is this one:
"Is it valuable?"
I can't help with the rock discussion.
I can tell you that if you need a powerful magnet, tear apart an old computer hard drive (you'd be surprised how many people have them sitting around).
They have extremely powerful magnets in them.
I am still concerned about the tiny hands situation.
I am a graduate student in geology. We generally don't do meteorites here at ISU, but I do know a little about them.
I thought the vesicle theory was good, but then I would say that those probably aren't volcanic vesicles, because if that were the case the rock should be lighter than normal rock. Vesicles are usually formed as air expands within a rock when it is hardening (usually due to a change in pressure during a volcanic eruption).
Meteorites don't necessarily have to be highly magnetic, it could just be a stony meteorite with a lower nickel/iron content. It does look like other meteorites I've seen, but I'd be hesitant to declare it as real without seeing it myself. If you brought it to Science I on campus during the week we could check it out.
If it does turn out to be a real meteorite (and your hands are regular-sized:smileit is pretty large and could be quite valuable. But like I said, it really hard to identify rocks from pictures.

I'm not a geologist, but my guess is that it's some sort of volcanic rock, based on the vesicular appearance.