Cheap as chips, Skye’s meteorite rocks sold online
End of the road... stickers left on John O’Groats sign to be cleared
IT is one of only two meteor impact sites in the UK and contains minerals from space never before seen on earth.
But samples snatched from a 60million-year-old meteorite site are being sold online for the same price as ‘fish and chips’.
Researchers are asking the public to be vigilant following reports of rocks being taken from the site on Skye.
Ten deposits were taken from the ‘incredibly fragile’ zone, each around a handful in size, and were put up for sale online for just £10.
The site near Broadford was only recently discovered and contains mineral material that matches samples taken in space. Experts warn that unauthorised removal of any of the deposit is against the law.
Dr Simon Drake, who discovered the site along with Dr Andy Beard, said he became aware of the sale around two weeks ago.
The lecturer from Birkbeck, University of London, said: ‘The sites are of critical importance because we think this meteorite acted as a driver for volcanism on the Isle of Skye. We think our meteorite struck between 60 and 61.4million years ago.
‘This guy was offering samples for sale online and my colleague Dr David Brown at Glasgow University wrote to him imploring him to take them down, which he has done. But we now fear the floodgates have opened.
‘They were originally offered for sale for £9.99 and the upsetting thing was that there were ten samples for sale.’
Dr Drake added: ‘These sites are millions of years old and they’re going to be destroyed for the same price as a fish and chip supper.’
The academic contacted landowners on Skye to discuss what can be done to minimise damage to the two sites.
He said: ‘Signage will hopefully be going up to protect these sites from meteorite collectors.
‘They are very small, very fragile sites that are of critical geological imporgeting tance. There are two meteorite impacts in this country, one is 1.2billion years of age near Ullapool and the other is on Skye.’
Scottish Natural Heritage said the online sales are ‘extremely concerning’. Dr Colin MacFadyen, geologist at SNH, said: ‘It is distressing to find out that mineral hunters have been tar- the site. Reports that samples removed from Skye have been on sale via the internet is extremely concerning and disappointing as we understand that the meteorite deposit is vulnerable to damage and theft.
‘We are working with the researchers and land owners to safeguard the deposits and ensure they are available for future research.
‘We also appeal to people not to remove any of the deposit which has major scientific importance and help us keep an eye out for those who do.’
The meteoritic rocks and minerals were found below layers of lavas, dated to volcanic activity as much as 61.54million years ago.
While the minerals had not previously been found on Earth, a sample of them was collected in the wake of comet Wild-2 by Nasa’s Stardust mission in 2006.
‘Sites are of critical importance’