Unassuming ‘Gold Rock’ Hides Unbelievable Secrets While In Man’s Possession
During the California Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, it was common to see people dig through rock formations and sieve through streams in hopes of finding some of that precious gold. But while it was a chaotic time of staked claims and intense searching, that spirit hasn't entirely left everyone in the century-and-a-half since.
And for those who still stalk the lands with their metal detectors in hand, it's hard to imagine a more valuable find than a gold nugget still sitting among the rocks after all these years. Although Australia had a gold rush of its own, one man got even luckier than he imagined when he thought he found a remnant of that frenetic chapter in the nation's history.
On the hunt
ScienceAlert reported that a man named David Hole was combing through the landscapes in Maryborough Regional Park in 2015. The park is fairly close to Melbourne, Australia, and Hole is local to the area.
As such, he knew something about this regional park that still makes it a draw for enterprising searchers. While the tools they use are newer, their motivations are the same as they would have been close to 200 years ago for those who walked in the same steps.
His trusty metal detector
Hole was taking his metal detector through the park, but not even he would have ever imagined what he ended up finding. And that's saying something because he didn't exactly have low expectations when he set out for his adventure.
That's because he brought his metal detector so he could go prospecting. And what he was hoping to find was no less than a gold nugget. Obviously, a whole deposit would have been even better, but even a nugget was more than worth the trip.
There was something underneath
Maryborough Regional Park isn't the largest park in Australia. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, that honor goes to The Munga-Thirri-Simpson Desert National Park in the southern part of the continent.
However, that wouldn't make the painstaking task of prospecting there feel any less like searching for a needle in a haystack. Nonetheless, ScienceAlert described Hole as finding something when he ran his detector over a patch of yellow clay. And there was something sticking out of that clay that caught his attention.
A curious and promising find
Hole came across this large, reddish rock, and when he picked it up, it immediately raised his suspicions that he didn't just have an ordinary rock on his hands. Although people rarely expect rocks to be light, this one had some surprising heft.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reported, Hole could tell that the rock was significantly heavier than it looked. As such., he was sure that there was something else resting inside of it. Naturally, he hoped that this mysterious unearthed treasure was a long-hidden gold nugget.
He had reason to believe that
That hope wasn't just based on pure, unbridled optimism. As someone who lived in the area, Hole knew that this hopeful suspicion of his was rooted in history. ScienceAlert explained that Maryborough is part of a larger area known as the Goldfields region.
Although the National Museum Australia noted that gold was discovered throughout the states of New South Wales and Victoria, Goldfields was the world-famous epicenter of the gold rush's peak between the 1850s and the 1870s.
A tough nut to crack
Convinced of the value of his find, Hole brought the heavy rock home. But as he would quickly learn, the heavy contents of the rock would be harder for him to access than he thought. And he had what would normally be the right tools for the job.
First, Hole tried to get a look inside the rock by cutting at it with a rock saw. When that failed, he brought out his power tools. Since this was clearly a heavy-duty job, he used an angle grinder (pictured) to try and punch through the rock.
Nothing seemed to work
However, the angle grinder didn't fare any better than the rock saw did. This led him to try a drill next, but Hole didn't get any further into the rock's seemingly impregnable surface. As the Sydney Morning Herald described it, these tools all seemed to bounce off the surface.
ScienceAlert noted that once Hole was faced with this frustration, he made the more severe choice to douse the rock in acid. And yet, this didn't get him any close to seeing what was inside. Naturally, this only made it clearer that the rock was special.
His last chance to do it himself
As the Sydney Morning Herald described, this string of failures to get through the rock left Hole with one last tool at his disposal. He was going to crack open the rock with a sledgehammer like the people who would have mined similar rocks during the gold rush.
As Hole saw it, a lucky strike would have treated him to a sight like this. Once he could confirm that the rock had gold in it, all this hard work would pay off. After all, the only thing more satisfying than finally overcoming a tough challenge is hitting pay dirt in the process.
This image of a gold-flaked rock was just in his dreams
But even though he still believed there was as much glittering gold in the rock as there was in this lump of quartz, it wasn't anything he was going to be able to see on his own. And that became clear when he brought the hammer down.
Although the Sydney Morning Herald described him gripping the sledgehammer tight in both hands, raising it above his head, and slamming it down as hard as he could, it didn't matter. The hammer hadn't even scratched the rock.
Hole was more curious than mad
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Hole saying, "What the hell is this thing?" Judging by the techniques and tools he had at his disposal, this didn't sound like the first rock he had tried to break. But it was the first one he couldn't get to budge for the life of him.
However, Hole's struggles only made him more curious about what he actually had. So ScienceAlert reported that he ended up taking it to the Melbourne Museum to be identified.
He's far from the first to do that
Dermot Henry is the head of sciences at Museums Victoria, while Dr. Bill Birch is the organization's senior curator emeritus. In their combined experiences, they have examined thousands of rocks, and when members of the public bring in something unusual, they typically know what it is.
And while Hole wasn't sure what he had on his hands, most people who come to them are a little more laser-focused on what they think they've got. As ScienceAlert quoted Henry as saying, "I've looked at a lot of rocks that people think are meteorites."
Most of the time, they're normal rocks
And while these visitors may have built their rock's possible otherworldly origins up in their heads, most of them will eventually discover that it had been a part of the Earth all along. In fact, the overwhelming majority of hopeful meteorite hunters will get this disappointing news.
As mentioned, Henry has looked at thousands of rocks over the course of his 37 years working at the Melbourne Museum. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, only two of the rocks that people brought to him in that time have turned out to be meteorites.
Just another hopeful
So when Hole came in with his special rock snugly packed in a backpack, Henry and Birch likely thought he would just be another person they had to gently break the disappointing news to. They had certainly had a lot of practice by that point.
However, if they had that suspicion to begin with, it didn't last for long. As soon as Hole opened the backpack and showed them what he had, it was clear that this wasn't an average rock at all.
They got more excited than they expected to be
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Henry picked it up. When he did, he agreed with Hole that it was unusually heavy for a rock of its size. However, he suspected that the reason for this weight discrepancy was a little different from Hole's theory.
Unfortunately for Hole, the strange weight wasn't a sign that the rock had gold in it. Henry said, "If you saw a rock on Earth like this, and you picked it up, it shouldn't be that heavy." So, it was hard not to suspect that it didn't originate on Earth.
The excitement started before they even touched it
Although this unusual weight was certainly a promising sign, Henry and Birch became excited at the prospect of having one of the only meteors in 37 years walk in before they even touched it. That's because the rock wasn't just of a different weight. It looked different.
Henry explained, "It had this sculpted, dimpled look to it. That's formed when they come through the atmosphere; they are melting on the outside, and the atmosphere sculpts them." It's hard to get more promising signs of a genuine meteorite than that.
Some illuminating test results
As exciting as what their senses were telling them was, Henry and Birch weren't going to let that settle the matter. They are scientists, and as such, they were going to test the rock to confirm that they had a genuine meteorite on their hands.
However, that testing only confirmed their suspicions before long. Not only was this a meteorite, but their testing revealed that it had been drifting through space for about 4.6 billion years by the time it touched down in Australia. Naturally, they eventually named it the Maryborough meteorite.
What was making it so heavy?
Once this testing was underway, Henry and Birch discovered not only how old the meteorite was but also why it was made of. This gave them a fix on why the rock was so much heavier than its size would normally suggest.
Sadly, the Maryborough meteorite hadn't picked up any gold throughout its eon-spanning travels through space. Instead, the minerals that were weighing it down were unusually dense forms of nickel and iron. This gave the geologists a starting point for classifying it.
They had tools that Hole didn't
Although Hole certainly tried everything at his disposal to cut through the rock, there was one tool that Henry and Birch had access to that he didn't. And it's often the only way to get through a rock this hard and pressurized.
As The Sydney Morning Herald noted, Henry used a diamond saw to slice a piece off the edge of the rock. These saws use blades that incorporate the hardest mineral on Earth and are often used in the construction and mining industries.
What was inside?
When Henry cut into the tough rock, he revealed that the rock had an array of silver "raindrops." ScienceAlert explained these are tiny crystals of metallic, silicate minerals. Indeed, this discovery wasn't too surprising for them since the rock had shown heavy nickel and iron presence in its composition.
However, these tiny mineral deposits did make it clear what they were dealing with. Since the droplets are called chondrules, Henry and Birch could be sure that they had an H5 ordinary chondrite on their hands. But what was ordinary about such a rare find?
What is that supposed to mean?
According to ScienceAlert, the term "chondrule" refers to pieces of densely packed iron often found in meteorites. This means that a meteorite with a high concentration of iron in it is typically referred to as a "chondrite" in scientific circles.
As for why it's called an "ordinary" chondrite, it has to do with the fact that meteorites with high iron content are the most common type that people tend to discover on Earth. Naturally, that's pretty much the only sense in which a rock like this would be "ordinary."
The other parts
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the iron, nickel, and silicate components might have been what stood out the most among the rock's composition, but they weren't the only elements found inside it. And one of the lesser-represented elements is a little more functionally important than the others.
The rock also contains magnesium and a little bit of crystallized water, but the important part is the similarly small amount of carbon inside. After all, even a small amount of this element can make carbon dating possible.
Why does this matter?
For some, the presence of chondrules inside of the rock is just further confirmation alongside the "sculpted, dimpled" look of the rock and its heavy weight that it's a meteorite. In that frame of mind, the excitement ends once that confirmation takes place.
But of Henry, the sight of chondrules speaks to something more fundamental than making his and Birch's analysis easier. It's a reminder that these same minerals were once floating around in hot gas clouds like the one pictured that predate Earth itself. As Henry put it, "You're looking right back to the formation of the solar system here."
"The cheapest form of space exploration"
When something is 4.6 billion years old, it carries a long history by its very existence. And for meteorites like the one Hole found, that history stretches beyond Earth and may even extend further into the reaches of space than humanity has ever explored.
As Henry put it in a statement obtained by ScienceAlert, "Meteorites provide the cheapest form of space exploration. They transport us back in time, providing clues to the age, formation, and chemistry of our Solar System (including Earth)."
What clues are in these meteorites?
Naturally, those clues can vary from meteorite to meteorite, but Henry continued expanding on what he could see in them. Namely, the building blocks of Earth itself and a material sense of what existed before it was ever formed.
He said, "Some provide a glimpse at the deep interior of our planet. In some meteorites, there is 'stardust' even older than our Solar System, which shows us how stars form and evolve to create elements of the periodic table."
They might even hint at extraterrestrial life
Henry also mentioned that meteorites don't just contain other minerals. Indeed, a lot can happen to anything that has existed for 4.6 billion years. And when that thing spends the majority of that time hurtling through space, it can pick up some interesting passengers.
While those passengers aren't always literal forms of life, they can present some fascinating evidence of life existing elsewhere. Henry said, "Other rare meteorites contain organic molecules such as amino acids, the building blocks of life."
In some form or another, chondrites are everywhere
Those who have studied astronomy and Earth science may notice that the meteorite isn't much older than the Earth itself. Indeed, it's a firsthand look at what the Solar System could have looked like before the formation of the planets.
ScienceAlert explained there was a time when our solar system just consisted of the Sun and a loose college of dust and chondrite rocks like the meteor. Eventually, the same gravitational forces that left these pieces in a constant orbital pattern around the Sun pushed them together.
The Solar System's leftovers
Once this gravitational pressure became powerful enough, these chondrites were packed together densely enough that they became planets. Indeed, Earth and the rockier planets of the Solar System, like Mars or Mercury, are the direct results of this process at its strongest.
Yet, as ScienceAlert noted, that doesn't mean all of the chondrites that once swirled around the Sun were brought together by this gradual but powerful change. There were leftovers, and most of those leftovers ended up drifting toward what is now the Asteroid Belt.
The Maryborough meteorite was likely one of them
Considering its age, it seems likely that the Maryborough meteorite was one of the floating rocks that escaped being pressed into a planet and found its way among the Asteroid Belt. And the team from Museums Victoria has a plausible estimate for why it isn't there anymore.
Henry explained, "This particular meteorite most probably comes out of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it's been nudged out of there by some asteroids smashing into each other, then one day it smashes into Earth."
But when did that happen?
According to ScienceAlert, carbon dating conducted on the Maryborough meteorite suggests that it's been nestled in the Earth's crust for between 100 and 1,000 years. Obviously, that's a pretty wide range, but there's some evidence that led Henry and Birch closer to a more precise timeframe.
As Henry told The Sydney Morning Herald, the lack of weathering on the meteorite shows some strong evidence that its impact on the Earth's surface happened less than 200 years ago. And while it's hard to get precise than that, they do have some potential leads.
It was probably noteworthy at the time
Considering how recently (at least relative to the meteor's overall history) the Maryborough meteor fell, the Museums Victoria team figured that it was the subject of a news report at the time. The only question is which report specifically talks about that one.
According to ScienceAlert, the most likely candidates are a series of sightings between 1889 and 1951. As The Sydney Morning Herald added, the most recent of them from The Age described fireballs shooting across the skies over Maryborough in June of 1951.
More precious than gold
Although Hole came to the Melbourne Museum in the hopes of uncovering some hidden gold, the geologists he brought it to argue that what he actually found was much more valuable. It's hard to tell whether that's true in monetary terms, but it is in terms of rarity.
Naturally, it may be a little hard for some to see it that way. After all, gold is one of the most highly prized metals on Earth, while the Maryborough meteorite is made of the most common type of rock to touch down on the planet.
Their explanation
Although that qualitative point of view is understandable, it underestimates how few meteors have been recovered after falling to Earth. And even by that metric, the Maryborough meteorite is something special. At 37.5 pounds, it's the second largest of its kind to ever land in Victoria.
And it's not exactly in crowded company. As Henry said, "This is only the 17th meteorite found in Victoria, whereas there's been thousands of gold nuggets found. Looking at the chain of events, it's quite, you might say, astronomical it being discovered at all."
Some meteorites take forever to be discovered
To illustrate just how astronomical the odds of this discovery are, ScienceAlert mentioned another case from the United States that saw a meteorite land in Michigan. But in the case of that fallen rock, the adventure continued after it was first discovered.
That's because it was reportedly used as a doorstop before it was identified and laid around for 80 years under the care of two different owners before it was finally examined. It's a good thing these meteorites are so sturdy.
This one was worth publishing
Although researchers are still pursuing the answers to more precise questions about the meteorite's landing time and other properties, Henry and Birch's examination and the research it inspired left them with enough information to present their findings to the scientific community at large.
And so, ScienceAlert reported that they have since published a scientific article describing the rock, which is also where their decision to name the meteorite after Maryborough was codified. And they didn't just keep it to themselves and their peers either.
After a certain point, everyone could see it
Once Henry and Birch had conducted the bulk of their research on the Maryborough meteorite, they and Museums Victoria made the large rock available for public viewing. And they picked a pretty special time to put it on display.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the meteorite was scheduled to go on display at the Melbourne Museum on August 11, 2019. What makes this date so special is that it takes place during National Science Week in Australia.
A very special guest
When the Maryborough meteorite exhibit opened, it's likely that it had quite the guest of honor among those curious enough to see the big rock in person. At least, that's true if he ended up following through with his plans.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Hole mentioned that he had planned to make a trip down to the Melbourne Museum to see it. Indeed, that would be a nice way to cap off the 4.6 billion-year journey his discovery took to get there.
Hole's being very gracious about how things turned out
For some, it would be perfectly understandable if Hole never wanted to see the rock again. And there are a couple of reasons why that reaction would have seemed natural. After all, many would find it hard not to be disappointed in his shoes.
At the beginning of this whole saga, Hole was looking for gold. And to find such a promising rock only to learn it doesn't have a shred of gold in it would certainly infuriate any prospector back during the gold rush of the 1850s.
He's not a greedy man either
It's also true that even after some people found out there wasn't any gold in the rock, they'd still try to get something out of it. And granted, it's unclear what sort of arrangement Hole had with Birch and Henry when he left the rock in their care.
But in the absence of details to the contrary, it appears that Hole was not only willing to surrender the rock to the researchers but seemed to do so as a straight-up donation. After all, if he was paid for the rock, nobody involved said as much.
He's just amazed it happened at all
However, Hole's statement to The Sydney Morning Herald didn't indicate any hard feelings whatsoever about missing out on any gold or even about no longer being in possession of the Maryborough meteorite. Instead, it sounds like he would have been as happy to see it as anyone else.
From the sounds of it, he took the researcher's words about the remote chances of any of this ever happening to heart. In his words, "It was just pot luck, mate. A billion to one – bigger, a trillion to one. Got more chance of being struck by lightning twice."
More important than money
Although he may not have found untold riches in Maryborough Regional Park, Hole seems content with the knowledge that he played a part in a one-in-a-million scientific discovery. Naturally, Henry and Birch were deeply enthusiastic about getting their hands on a genuine meteorite that almost never appears on Earth.
In essence, that speaks to the spirit of how the Maryborough meteorite turned out to be far more valuable than if it had indeed been concealing a gold nugget. That value was just more scientific and public than Hole was expecting.