Welcome to my Bio,
My name is Randall (Randy) Gregory, an American Vietnam veteran (OH-6A pilot) living in Peru with my wonderful wife, Karin. She used to think that the rocks in the BBQ grill were more aesthetic than meteorites. She would say "WOW" when she saw beautiful mineral specimens. Over time, I managed to show her the beauty of meteorites. Now she says "WOW" to both. My wife and I have been involved with the hobby now for about 3 1/2 years and still as passionate as ever.
I had always been interested in science and astronomy and became facinated in meteorites when I first heard about the giagantic meteorite fall on Feb 2, 2004 near the town of Aplao in Peru. The reports of that fall facinated me and I started to read everything I could find about meteorites. Shortly after the fall, scientists from the National University looked for the impact crater. They were unsuccessful and in time stopped looking.
I thought it would be fun and challenging to try to find this crater that nobody else had found so I started to make expeditions into the area. I was a novice and after making my share of mistakes, started to learn what it takes to mount a sucessful expediton. We found the crater on our 5th and final expedition. II am a current member of the Meteoritical Society and support meteorite research although sometimes I have a hard time getting thru some of their technical articles. Articles like: "Diffusion-driven kenetic isotope effect during the formation of the Widmanstatten pattern". Other articles like the hunt for meteorites in Greenland are very interesting and digestable.
Randy and Karen
Photo #1 - All of me and 1/2 of my wife. Other half is at: http://www.qmig.net/friends_odf_qmig.htm
Photo #2 - We were fortunate enough to receive special permission to spend an entire night at Machu Picchu.
It was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives. We shot night video.
Photo #3 - Sample stone found in the desert area of the Valley Majes region of Peru, not far from Aplao.
Due to the fact that identical stones have been found in Utah and Kuwait now preclude the
possibility of an Aplao meteorite fall li||x||nk. Preliminary results indicate these stones have
characteristics related to a ancient and massive oceanic Earth impact.
Some unusual characteristics of these stones:
Lab testing shows reheating and recrystallization of the stones produced a hardness factor of
8.5 (Mohs) putting it into gemstone hardness range, totally anhydrous, planar deformations, crust
consistant with matrix, mineral transformation (shock) indicative of impact, flow and melt. These
stones will not be further analyzed because of the prohibitive cost involved and will remain in
collections. Quite possibly, sometime in the future, the mystery of these stones will be revealed.
Photo #4 - More than 100,000 carved stones said to have been unearthed in a cave not far from the Nazca
Lines that appears to be a vast library of knowledge depicted as scenes in stones. Stones said to
have been athenticated by German researchers. Some people claim it’s a big hoax. Either way, it’s
interesting. The stones depict organ transplantation, dinosaurs, cesarian section, and telescopes.
Photo #5 - The Aplao crater. Meteorite impacted a mountain producing a structure 100x80x90 meters. Crater
type structure verified by local residents as a newly formed from impact. Scaling the mountain to
retrieve samples would be extremely hazardous. Maybe something for future generations to study.
Photos Copyright 2008 - may be used permission
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