“I have traded Gold Basin meteorites for gold from some dealers from Montreal, fossil fish from Green River, Native American pendants from Santa Fe and – in the past couple of years — have traded chocolate meteorite truffles for real meteorites.”
The Extraterrestrial Hunter
Did you know that there have been several extraterrestrial hunters in OV?
Extraterrestrial space rocks, that is…
In 1995, three dedicated locals discovered and mapped out a spectacular meteorite field in northwest Arizona in the Mojave Desert. This led to a bonanza that has placed these meteorites in natural history museums and private collections around the world.
Jim Kreigh Kicks Off a Bonanza
OV’s founding father Jim Kreigh was well-known for many things…including an uncanny ability to find meteorites in the desert.
Kreigh was the first to discover a meteorite in Gold Basin, located in Northwest Arizona (just west of the Grand Canyon). Soon, many more were found in the area, and it became clear that what they were looking at was not a single meteorite, but the debris field from a larger meteorite that exploded above-ground.
The Surviving Meteorite Hunter
Twink standing in front of her custom meteorite display case
“Twink” Monrad of OV is the only surviving member of the three-person meteorite-hunting group with Jim Kreigh and and John Blennert (both recently deceased.)
“I always loved walking around and picking up interesting and beautiful rocks,” she explains. Until 1996, however, she had only collected terrestrial rocks like garnets, quartz crystals, petrified wood, and obsidian.
So, when Jim Kreigh and John Blennert invited Twink to come help them to map out the newly-discovered meteorite field in Gold Basin, she jumped at the opportunity.
Top Secret Operations
Under the supervision of Dr. Kring, a NASA-recognized planetary scientist from the U of A, the three members of the ad hoc meteorite hunting team spent two years mapping the area in secret.
The University didn’t want to publicize the find too early for fear that the site would be overrun with collectors — before they could properly map out the data for science.
On BLM land you are permitted to take “souvenirs”, which includes meteorites. (This is typically not true for other federal lands.)
Twink explains that even today – a quarter of a century later – there are still meteorite hunters camped out in RVs all winter at Gold Basin. “Meteorites are big business to meteorite collectors,” she says.
The Search for Extraterrestrials
Twink recalls:
“With John Blennert and Jim Kreigh as my metal detector instructors at Gold Basin, I eventually learned to be able to hear the difference between hot rocks and meteorites. They also had to teach me to be sure and locate the item making noise on my detector.
“While it would frequently be a meteorite, one also would find pieces of foil, small boot nails, tiny bb’s, pieces of lead, bullets, coins, barb wire, horseshoes and — since it was Gold Basin — there was the nice surprise of sometimes finding gold nuggets!”
In 1998, the U of A announced the discovery of Gold Basin at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
“When Gold Basin was announced, it was all over the news,” says Twink. Gold Basin was now on the radar screen of the world meteorite community.
A Huge Explosion Over Arizona
Twink’s team and their vigilant mapping of the Gold Basin meteorite field allowed scientists to better understand the find. By looking at the size and distribution of all the pieces of the exploding asteroid, these scientists were able to develop a theory of how the meteor entered our atmosphere.
“Dr. Kring believes that the original asteroid was the size of a car and exploded above the Earth. He always said it was traveling East to West – across the Colorado River toward Nevada.”
Some meteorites explode in the sky from the immense forces acting on them as they penetrate Earth’s atmosphere. When the Gold Basin meteorite field was discovered, hunters found that about two-thirds of the meteorites were underground.
Rusty Treasure
Twink explains, “when a meteorite falls, it turns black from all the heat. These meteorites in Gold Basin have been sitting there for 15,000 years, slowly oxidizing [rusting] into a dark brown color.”
Scientists first estimated that the Gold Basin source meteorite fell 25,000 years ago. Then after two separate lab tests, they revised their estimate to 15,000 years ago.
The Hohokam people then living in the Catalinas might have seen this spectacular fireball fly overhead. What would they make of it?
Space Rocks Love Arizona
Why Arizona specifically? Because the desert allows meteorites to sit undisturbed for a long period of time.
The majority of meteorites fall into the oceans or more vegetated areas, where they are unlikely to be found. The best places to look are remote areas like deserts, ice fields, or the polar regions, where meteorites are more likely to be preserved in situ (where they fell).
“There are different types of meteorites – some are total nickel, and some are rock with a sprinkling of nickel iron,” Twink explains. “Any iron will rust around humidity or water, so meteorites are best preserved in dry locations. Northwest Africa, Australia and Antarctica have lots of dry areas for meteorite hunting.”
The 60-ton Hoba meteorite in Namibia is the world’s largest known meteorite. The asteroid that landed in the Yucatan 66 million years ago and extincted the dinosaurs was estimated to be six miles in diameter.
For the Love of Meteorites
Twink’s meteorite cake donated to Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
One might say that Twink never completely “came back to Earth” after she participated in the once-in-a-lifetime experience of mapping Gold Basin, because she has since become a respected and involved member of the international meteorite community.
Twink is proud to note that a photography of one of her specimens – The Golden Rule – appears in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites!
She always looks forward to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. For 10 years, the show included a meteorite auction. Twink and her husband donated a cake to the auction with foil-wrapped meteorites inside!
Lifelong Fascination
Twink grew up in Tucson and developed a fascination for rocks at age five, when she first attended the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. “I still have the rose quartz pendant I bought that day.”
She became a “bit of a rockhound” in her younger years, searching for mica and quartz on Mt. Lemmon.
Twink’s favorite rocks:
- Golden Rule from OV’s Golden Basin
- A fragment of the 1912 meteorite that exploded over Holbrook
- Petrified wood from Holbrook/Taylor
Space Travelers
“I don’t have any science background. My husband is an electrical engineer. I raised my two boys. I was just Susie Homemaker, so Gold Basin was such an adventure.”
Despite Twink’s lack of formal scientific training, she has gained considerable knowledge about these space rocks over the years. (“They call me a ‘citizen scientist’.”)
Twink explains that most meteorites come from the primary asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Since 1969, the rock samples collected by the Apollo astronauts from the lunar surface confirmed that a small number of meteorites found on Earth are from the Moon.
In the 1970s, NASA Viking program was able to collect gases from the atmosphere on Mars. These findings helped them to prove that a few meteorites are, in fact, from Mars!
“Meteorites are often 4.6 billion years old – as old as the solar system.”
Today, there are over 50 different classification types for meteorites.
Will Trade Space Rocks
“I built my collection by trading, purchasing and receiving some as gifts,” says Twink. Among meteorite hounds, these space rocks can serve as a sort of currency for barter.
“I have traded Gold Basins for gold from some dealers from Montreal, fossil fish from Green River, Native American pendants from Santa Fe and – in the past couple of years –have traded chocolate meteorite truffles for real meteorites.”
Twink always carries a few space rocks in her pocket as “little gifts”. (She was even kind enough to send us some at ILoveOV!)
Community of Interest
Jim Kreigh, John Blennert, and Twink did not keep all of the meteorites that they found at Gold Basin.
Scientists who classify space rocks always keep samples for science. And Jim Kreigh and Twink have donated their finds to museums around the world. They both loved to give talks at local schools to pique the interest of the next generation of meteorite enthusiasts.
Twink says that the meteorite community is “huge” – consisting of dealers, hunters, collectors, scientists, rock finishers, authors, and more. She estimates that she has become friends with about 40 dealers.
She stays current on meteorite findings through the Meteorite List, Meteorite-Times, Rocks from Space Picture of the Day, and various dealer sites.
Showcasing the Goods
Twink has a custom-made display where she keeps many of her favorite space rocks. The halogen lights are left on 24/7 to reduce humidity and stop oxidation.
For those who know their rocks, Twink’s collection also includes tektites, moldavites, impactites, Libyan desert glass, and fulgurites.
Ready to Rock
“As Jim Kreigh used to say, ‘it’s best to go look for meteorites where they are known to fall.’ But I found another in a field near Lake Havasu, and also on the west side of Tucson near Ajo Rd. They can be found anywhere if you’re lucky. But if you’re just starting out, you should begin at a known field.
“Jim Kreigh was given credit for saying that everyday people can find a whole meteorite field. Anyone can be fortunate enough to find a meteorite. Since then, lots of people have taken on the hobby of meteorite hunting.
“Many people have brought over rocks to show me. I often have had to explain to them – delicately — why their rocks weren’t meteorites!”
– By Tom Ekman, J.D., M.Ed
;>)