A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains
We report on the discovery of microtektites (microscopic impact glass spherules) in a glacial moraine near Larkman Nunatak in the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. The microtektites were identified based on their physical and chemical properties. Major and trace element compositions of the parti...
Published in: | Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |
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ftimperialcol:oai:spiral.imperial.ac.uk:10044/1/57799 2023-05-15T13:54:43+02:00 A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains Van Ginneken, M Genge, MJ Harvey, R Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) 2018-03-01 http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/57799 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.02.041 unknown Elsevier Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY 94 81 0402 Geochemistry 0403 Geology Geochemistry & Geophysics Journal Article 2018 ftimperialcol https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.02.041 2018-09-16T06:01:56Z We report on the discovery of microtektites (microscopic impact glass spherules) in a glacial moraine near Larkman Nunatak in the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. The microtektites were identified based on their physical and chemical properties. Major and trace element compositions of the particles suggest that they may be related to the Australasian strewn field. This would further extend the current strewn field ~800 km southward. Depletion in volatiles and enrichment in refractory elements in Larkman Nunatak microtektites fit the volatilization trend defined by Australasian microtektites, suggesting that they may represent a new highly vapor fractionated member thereof. This observation is supported by their low vesicularity and absence of mineral inclusions. This discovery has strong implications for the formation of microtektites (i.e. their evolution with respect to the distance from the source crater). Finally, the discovery of potentially old (i.e. 0.8 Ma) microtektites in moraine has implications for the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Larkman Nunatak area over the last ~1 Ma and, as a consequence, the high efficiency of such moraines as traps for other extraterrestrial materials (e.g. micrometeorites and meteoritic ablation debris). Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Imperial College London: Spiral Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet Larkman Nunatak ENVELOPE(179.383,179.383,-85.767,-85.767) Transantarctic Mountains Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 228 81 94 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Imperial College London: Spiral |
op_collection_id |
ftimperialcol |
language |
unknown |
topic |
0402 Geochemistry 0403 Geology Geochemistry & Geophysics |
spellingShingle |
0402 Geochemistry 0403 Geology Geochemistry & Geophysics Van Ginneken, M Genge, MJ Harvey, R A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains |
topic_facet |
0402 Geochemistry 0403 Geology Geochemistry & Geophysics |
description |
We report on the discovery of microtektites (microscopic impact glass spherules) in a glacial moraine near Larkman Nunatak in the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. The microtektites were identified based on their physical and chemical properties. Major and trace element compositions of the particles suggest that they may be related to the Australasian strewn field. This would further extend the current strewn field ~800 km southward. Depletion in volatiles and enrichment in refractory elements in Larkman Nunatak microtektites fit the volatilization trend defined by Australasian microtektites, suggesting that they may represent a new highly vapor fractionated member thereof. This observation is supported by their low vesicularity and absence of mineral inclusions. This discovery has strong implications for the formation of microtektites (i.e. their evolution with respect to the distance from the source crater). Finally, the discovery of potentially old (i.e. 0.8 Ma) microtektites in moraine has implications for the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Larkman Nunatak area over the last ~1 Ma and, as a consequence, the high efficiency of such moraines as traps for other extraterrestrial materials (e.g. micrometeorites and meteoritic ablation debris). |
author2 |
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Van Ginneken, M Genge, MJ Harvey, R |
author_facet |
Van Ginneken, M Genge, MJ Harvey, R |
author_sort |
Van Ginneken, M |
title |
A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_short |
A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_full |
A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_fullStr |
A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_full_unstemmed |
A new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_sort |
new type of highly-vaporized microtektite from the transantarctic mountains |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/57799 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.02.041 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(179.383,179.383,-85.767,-85.767) |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet Larkman Nunatak Transantarctic Mountains |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctic Ice Sheet Larkman Nunatak Transantarctic Mountains |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
94 81 |
op_relation |
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |
op_rights |
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.02.041 |
container_title |
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |
container_volume |
228 |
container_start_page |
81 |
op_container_end_page |
94 |
_version_ |
1766260781494566912 |