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                                 January 27, 1977

AIRMAIL

Mr. J.E. Johnson
Mineral Dept.
South Australian Museum
North Terrace
Adelaide, S. Australia 5000

Dear Jim,

     Thank you for your letter of January 21.  I am glad to know you have received a copy of our australite monograph. As you say, one of the important problems that requires further investigation is the extent and significance of the gaps within the strewnfield, particulary the one extending from Eyre Peninsula over much of the western half of South Australia. Is this because of insufficient searching, or non exposure of the australite horizon, or because they never fell there? We did very little looking in this region, except on the Nullarbor Plain from Ooldea westwards (australites widespread, but generally in smal numbers at any one locality), and along the S.A.-N.T. border, the area you know well. We spent a few days around Woomera and Andamooka in 1964, finding only one australite (on Andamooka Island, and it could have been abo-transported). Michael Mudie of Arcoona had a collection of about 50 australites he had picked up on the station over a number of years. (This collection is an important one and should be preserved in a museum; perhaps you could arrange to get it for the S.A. Museum.) In 1965 I spent a few days around Kingoonya and Tarcoola, going as far NW as Commonwealth Hill; nobody I talked to knew of australites in that region, and I didn't find any,although in some areas the geology looked favorable. I drove about 100 miles west along the railway line from Tarcoola towards Ooldea, but beyond Wynbring the country is covered with thick sand and the australite horizon is probably deeply duried.

We are enjoying (?) the coldest winter I can remember since I came to the U.S. thirty years ago. Since Xmas the thermometer has seldom risen above the freezing point even at midday. The Potomac River is solidly frozen from bank to bank. It makes me nostalgic for the Australian outback. I'm still interested in the many problems posed by the australites, and hope to come back and work some of them from time to time.