Slug from smelting metal ore
During my trip on the river Elbe (see also my article from yesterday) I found some pieces of material which immediatelly got my attention: a kind of metamorphic “object” that looked almost like a… meteorite (photo width – 40 mm):
There was not only one but 8 such things on about 5 m² area and because they all looked at least weird to me, I took some samples with me at home (sizes between 1 – 5 cm). As to my knowledge, there was no active volcano in the region and recent meteoric activity can be excluded too since no reports have been recorded in this area. However, 3 out of 8 pieces contain certain amount of iron confirmed by their magnetic properties, which makes the meteoric origin at least plausible. The photo below is about 18 mm wide:
If this is indeed of meteoric or volcanic origin, than the river may have transported the little objectes from really far away in the montaneous area. Two plausible explanations may support or deny this theory: 1) these are not stones but slug fragments of smelted metal ore from the nearby mountains (but how did it get into the river?) and 2) the fragments represent some slags from either the boats’ traffic on the river or construction works. Second option seems to be the most plausible, given also the fact that the collecting site was located in the immediate vicinity of a major street.

















