The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica)
The Frontier Mountain blue ice field is an important Antarctic meteorite trap which has yielded 472 meteorite specimens since its discovery in 1984. Remote sensing analyses and field campaigns from 1993 to 1999 have furnished new glaciological data on ice flow, ice thickness, bedrock topography, ice...
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| Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Meteoritical Society
2002
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2122/3896 |
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ftingv:oai:www.earth-prints.org:2122/3896 |
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openpolar |
| institution |
Open Polar |
| collection |
Earth-Prints (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) |
| op_collection_id |
ftingv |
| language |
English |
| topic |
Frontier Mountain Antarctic meteorite trap remote sensing glaciological data 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.04. Magnetic and electrical methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.05. Downhole radioactivity and other methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.06. Seismic methods |
| spellingShingle |
Frontier Mountain Antarctic meteorite trap remote sensing glaciological data 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.04. Magnetic and electrical methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.05. Downhole radioactivity and other methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.06. Seismic methods Folco, L. Capra, A. Chiappini, M. Frezzotti, M. Mellini, M. Tabacco, I. E. The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) |
| topic_facet |
Frontier Mountain Antarctic meteorite trap remote sensing glaciological data 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.04. Magnetic and electrical methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.05. Downhole radioactivity and other methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.06. Seismic methods |
| description |
The Frontier Mountain blue ice field is an important Antarctic meteorite trap which has yielded 472 meteorite specimens since its discovery in 1984. Remote sensing analyses and field campaigns from 1993 to 1999 have furnished new glaciological data on ice flow, ice thickness, bedrock topography, ice ablation and surface mass transport by wind, along with detailed descriptions of the field situation at the trap. This solid set of data combined with an updated meteorite distribution map and terrestrial ages available from literature allows us to better describe the nature of the concentration mechanism. In particular, we observe that the meteorite trap forms in a blue ice field (1) located upstream of an absolute and a shallow sub-ice barriers; (2) characterized by compressive ice flow with horizontal velocities decreasing from 100 to <10 cm/year on approaching the obstacle; (3) undergoing mean ablation rates of 6.5 cm/year; (4) nourished by a limited snow accumulation zone extending ∼20 km upstream of the blue ice area. We also draw the following conclusions: (1) the origin of the meteorite trap can be explained according to the present-day glaciological situation; (2) the meteorite concentration develops according to the general principles of the "ice flow model"; (3) the accumulation model can be described as "stagnant ice or slow-moving ice against an absolute and submerged barriers", according to the descriptive schemes present in literature; (4) the Frontier Mountain ice field is an effective trap for meteorites weighing more than ∼200 g; for smaller masses, the combination of wind and glacial drift may remove meteorites in less than a few tens of thousands of years; (5) although the activation age of the Frontier Mountain trap is not yet constrained, we infer that one of the most important findsites may be as old as 50 ka, predating the last glacial maximum. Published 209-228 JCR Journal reserved |
| author2 |
Folco, L.; Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy Capra, A.; DAU, Politecnico di Bari, via Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy Chiappini, M.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia Frezzotti, M.; ENEA-GEM-CLIM, CR Casaccia, via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, I-00060 Roma, Italy Mellini, M.; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy Tabacco, I. E.; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Milano, via Cicognara 7, 20129 Milano, Italy Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy DAU, Politecnico di Bari, via Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia ENEA-GEM-CLIM, CR Casaccia, via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, I-00060 Roma, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Milano, via Cicognara 7, 20129 Milano, Italy |
| format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| author |
Folco, L. Capra, A. Chiappini, M. Frezzotti, M. Mellini, M. Tabacco, I. E. |
| author_facet |
Folco, L. Capra, A. Chiappini, M. Frezzotti, M. Mellini, M. Tabacco, I. E. |
| author_sort |
Folco, L. |
| title |
The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) |
| title_short |
The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) |
| title_full |
The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) |
| title_fullStr |
The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) |
| title_sort |
frontier mountain meteorite trap (antarctica) |
| publisher |
Meteoritical Society |
| publishDate |
2002 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2122/3896 |
| long_lat |
ENVELOPE(160.333,160.333,-72.983,-72.983) |
| geographic |
Antarctic Frontier Mountain |
| geographic_facet |
Antarctic Frontier Mountain |
| genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
| genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
| op_relation |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science 2 / 37 (2002) ANNEXSTAD J. O. AND SCHULTZ L. (1983) Measurements of the triangulation network at the Allan Hills meteorite icefield. In Antarctic Earth Science (eds. R. L. Oliver, P. R. James and J. B. Jago), pp. 617–619. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. BENOIT P. H. AND SEARS D. W. G. (2000) The natural thermoluminescence survey of Antarctic meteorites: Ordinary chondrites at the Grosvenor Mountains, MacAlpine Hills, Pecora Escarpment and Queen Alexandra Range, and new data for the Elephant Moraine ice fields. In Workshop on Extraterrestrial Material from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, I. A. Franchi, A. Reid and M. Zolensky), pp. 11–14. LPI Contribution No. 997, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. BINDSCHADLER R. A. AND SCAMBOS T. A. (1991) Satellite Image derived velocity field of an Antarctic Ice Stream. Science 252, 242–252. CASSIDY W., HARVEY R., SCHUTT J., DELISLE G. AND YANAI K. (1992) The meteorite collection sites of Antarctica. Meteoritics 27, 490–525. DELISLE G. (1993) Global change. Antarctic meteorite traps and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. J. Glaciology 39, 397–408. DELISLE G., FRANCHI I., ROSSI A. AND WIELER R. (1993) Meteorite finds by EUROMET near Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, Antarctica. Meteoritics 28, 126–129. DELISLE G., HÖFLE H. C. AND THIERBACH R. (1986) Discovery of meteorites on a blue ice field near Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, Antarctica. In Workshop on Antarctic Meteorites (eds. ), pp. 30–33. LPI Technical Report 86-01, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. DELISLE G. ET AL. (1989) Meteorite finds near the Frontier Mountain Range in North Victoria Land. Geologisches Jahrbuch E38, 483–513. FAURE G. AND BUCHANAN D. (1991) Ablation rates of the ice fields in the vicinity of the Allan Hills, Victoria Land, Antarctica. In Contributions to Antarctic Research II (ed. D. H. Elliot), pp. 19–31. Antarctic Research Series 53. FOLCO L., FRANCHI I. A., MELLINI M. AND PILLINGER C. T. (1995) Report on activities undertaken by the EUROMET/PNRA meteorite collection expedition to Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, during the 1993–94 Antarctic field season. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 27–29. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. FOLCO L., MELLINI M., MENEGHEL M. AND PERCHIAZZI N. (1996) The 1995/96 PNRA/EUROMET meteorite collection expedition: New finds from Frontier Mountain and reconnaissance of blue ice fields in the Rennick Glacier region (North Victoria Land, Antarctica). In Materiali del Dipartimento di Geografia "G. Morandini". Convegno Nazionale di Glaciologia Antartica, June 11–12, Padova, Italy. FOLCO L. AND MELLINI M. (2000) 1990–2000: Ten years of Antarctic meteorite search by the Italian PNRA. Antarctic Meteorites 25, 8–9. GANOVEX III (1987) Geological map of North Victoria Land, Antarctica, 1:500 000—Explanatory notes—German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition 1982/83. Geologisches Jahrbuch 2, 7–79. GRADY M. M., HUTCHISON R., MCCALL G. J. H. AND ROTHERY D. A. (1998) Introduction. In Meteorites: Flux with Time and Impact Effects (eds. M. M. Grady, R. Hutchison, G. J. H. McCall and D. A. Rothery), pp. 1–5. Geological Society, Special Publications 140, London, U.K. GRAHAM A. L. AND ANNEXSTAD J. O. (1989) Antarctic meteorites. Antarct. Sci. 1, 3–14. GUNN B. M. AND WARREN G. (1962) Geology of Victoria Land between the Mawson and Mulock Glaciers, Antarctica. Bull. N. Z. Geol. Surv. 71, 1–157. HALLIDAY I., BLACKWELL A. T. AND GRIFFIN A. A. (1989) The flux of meteorites to Earth's surface. Meteoritics 24, 173–178. HARVEY R. P. (1995) Moving targets: The effects of supply, wind movement, and search losses on Antarctic meteorite size distribution. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad, and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 34–36. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. HARVEY R. P. AND CASSIDY W. A. (1989) A statistical comparison of Antarctic finds and modern falls: Mass frequency distributions and relative abundance by type. Meteoritics 24, 9–14. HÖFLE H-C. (1989) The glacial history of the Outback Nunataks Area in Western North Victoria Land. Geologisches Jahrbuch E38, 335–355. HUSS G. R. (1990) Meteorite infall as a function of mass: Implications for the accumulation of meteorites on Antarctic ice. Meteoritics 25, 41–56. IKEDA Y. AND KIMURA M. (1992) Mass distribution of Antarctic ordinary chondrites and the estimation of the fall-to-specimen ratios. Meteoritics 27, 435–441. JULL A. J. T., CLOUDT S. AND CIELASZYK E. (1998) In Meteorites: Flux with Time and Impact Effects (eds. M. M. Grady, R. Hutchison, G. J. H. McCall and D. A. Rothery), pp. 1–5. Geological Society, Special Publications 140, London, U.K. KOEBERL C. (1989) Iridium enrichment in volcanic dust from blue ice fields, Antarctica, and possible relevance to the K/T boundary event. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 92, 317–322. KOEBERL C., YANAI K., CASSIDY W. A. AND SCHUTT J. W. (1988) Investigation of dust bands from blue ice fields in the Lewis Cliff (Beardmore) area, Antarctica: A progress report. Antarctic Meteorites 1, 291–309. LINDSTROM M. M. AND SCORE R. (1995) Populations, pairing and rare meteorites in the U.S. Antarctic meteorite collection. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 43–45. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. NAGATA T. (1978) A possible mechanism of concentration of meteorites within the Meteorite Ice Field in Antarctica. Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue 8, 70–92. NISHIIZUMI K. (1995) Terrestrial ages of meteorites from cold and hot regions. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 53–55. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. NISHIIZUMI K., ELMORE D. AND KUBIK P. W. (1989) Update on terrestrial ages of Antarctic meteorites. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 93, 299–313. OERLEMANS J. AND VAN DER VEEN C. J. (1984) Ice Sheets and Climate. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland. 217 pp. ORHEIM O. AND LUCCHITTA B. K. (1988) Snow and ice studies by Thematic Mapper and multispectral scanner Landsat images. Annals Glaciology 9, 109–118. OROMBELLI G., BARONI C. AND DENTON G. H. (1990) Late Cenozoic glacial history of the Terra Nova Bay region, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geogr. Fis. Dinam. Quat. 13, 139–163. PALLADINO A. F., FOLCO L. AND MELLINI M. (1996) GIS applications to the Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (North Victoria Land, Antarctica). In Materiali del Dipartimento di Geografia "G. Morandini". Convegno Nazionale di Glaciologia Antartica, June 11–12, Padova, Italy. PERCHIAZZI N., FOLCO L. AND MELLINI M. (1999) Volcanic ash bands in the Frontier Mountain and Lichen Hills blue-ice fields, northern Victoria Land. Antarctic Sci. 11, 353–361. REMY F., SHAEFFER P. AND LEGRESY B. (1999) Ice flow processes derived from the ERS-1 high resolution map of the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets. Geophysical J. Intl. 139, 645–656 SCHERER P., ANNEXSTAD J. AND NEUPERT U. (1997) Allan Hills 88019: An Antarctic H-chondrite with a very long terrestrial age. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 32, 769–773. SCHULTZ L. AND ANNEXSTAD J. (1984) Ablation and ice movement at the Allan Hills Main Icefield between 1978 and 1981. In Field and Laboratory Investigations of Meteorites from Victoria Land, Antarctica (eds. U. B. Marvin and B. Mason), pp. 17–22. Smithsonian Contribution to Earth Sciences 26. SCHULTZ L., ANNEXSTAD J. AND DELISLE G. (1990) Ice movement and mass balance at the Allan Hills Icefield. Antarctic J. USA 25, 94–95. SCHUTT J., SCHULTZ L., ZINNER L. AND ZOLENSKY M. (1986) Search for meteorites in the Allan Hills region 1985–86. Antarctic J. USA 21, 82–83. TERRIBILINI D., EUGSTER O., HERZOG G. F. AND SCHNABEL C. (2000) Evidence for common breakup events of the acapulcoites-lodranites and chondrites. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 35, 1043–1050. TABACCO I. E., BIANCHI C., CHIAPPINI M., PASSERINI A., ZIRIZZOTTI A. AND ZUCCHERETTI E. (1999) Latest improvements for the echo sounding system of the Italian radar glaciological group and measurements in Antarctica. Ann. Geofis. 42, 271–276. VAN DER VEEN C. J. (1999) Fundamentals of Glacier Dynamics. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 462 pp. WARREN S. G. (1982) Optical properties of snow. Rev. Geophysics 20, 67–89. WELTEN K. C., ALDERLIESTEN C., VAN DER BORG K., LINDER L., LOEKEN T. AND SCHULTZ L. (1997) Lewis Cliff 86360: An Antarctic L-chondrite with a terrestrial age of 2.35 million years. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 32, 775–780. WELTEN K. C., NISHIIZUMI K., MASARIK J., CAFFEE M. W., JULL A. J. T., KLANDRUD S. E. AND WIELER R. (2001) Cosmic-ray exposure history of two Frontier Mountain H-chondrite showers from spallation and neutron-capture products. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 36, 301–318. WHILLANS I. M. AND CASSIDY W. A. (1983) Catch a falling star: Meteorites on old ice. Science 222, 55–57. WIELER R., CAFFEE M. W. AND NISHIIZUMI K. (1995) Exposure and terrestrial ages of H-chondrites from Frontier Mountain. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad, and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 70–72. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. YOKOYAMA K. (1975) Net accumulation by stake measurements. JARE data Report 28 (Glaciol.), 62–82. ZIBORDI G., MELONI G.P. AND FREZZOTTI M. (1996) Snow and ice reflectance spectra of the Nansen Ice Sheet surfaces. Cold Regions Sci. Tech. 24, 147–151. ZOLENSKY M. (1988) The flux of meteorites to Antarctica. In Meteorites: Flux with Time and Impact Effects (eds. M. M. Grady, R. Hutchison, G. J. H. McCall and D. A. Rothery), pp. 93–104. Geological Society, Special Publications 140, London, U.K. http://hdl.handle.net/2122/3896 |
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restricted |
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ftingv:oai:www.earth-prints.org:2122/3896 2023-05-15T13:51:39+02:00 The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica) Folco, L. Capra, A. Chiappini, M. Frezzotti, M. Mellini, M. Tabacco, I. E. Folco, L.; Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy Capra, A.; DAU, Politecnico di Bari, via Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy Chiappini, M.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia Frezzotti, M.; ENEA-GEM-CLIM, CR Casaccia, via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, I-00060 Roma, Italy Mellini, M.; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy Tabacco, I. E.; Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Milano, via Cicognara 7, 20129 Milano, Italy Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy DAU, Politecnico di Bari, via Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari, Italy Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia ENEA-GEM-CLIM, CR Casaccia, via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria, I-00060 Roma, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Siena, via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Milano, via Cicognara 7, 20129 Milano, Italy 2002-02 http://hdl.handle.net/2122/3896 en eng Meteoritical Society Meteoritics & Planetary Science 2 / 37 (2002) ANNEXSTAD J. O. AND SCHULTZ L. (1983) Measurements of the triangulation network at the Allan Hills meteorite icefield. In Antarctic Earth Science (eds. R. L. Oliver, P. R. James and J. B. Jago), pp. 617–619. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. BENOIT P. H. AND SEARS D. W. G. (2000) The natural thermoluminescence survey of Antarctic meteorites: Ordinary chondrites at the Grosvenor Mountains, MacAlpine Hills, Pecora Escarpment and Queen Alexandra Range, and new data for the Elephant Moraine ice fields. In Workshop on Extraterrestrial Material from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, I. A. Franchi, A. Reid and M. Zolensky), pp. 11–14. LPI Contribution No. 997, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. BINDSCHADLER R. A. AND SCAMBOS T. A. (1991) Satellite Image derived velocity field of an Antarctic Ice Stream. Science 252, 242–252. CASSIDY W., HARVEY R., SCHUTT J., DELISLE G. AND YANAI K. (1992) The meteorite collection sites of Antarctica. Meteoritics 27, 490–525. DELISLE G. (1993) Global change. Antarctic meteorite traps and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. J. Glaciology 39, 397–408. DELISLE G., FRANCHI I., ROSSI A. AND WIELER R. (1993) Meteorite finds by EUROMET near Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, Antarctica. Meteoritics 28, 126–129. DELISLE G., HÖFLE H. C. AND THIERBACH R. (1986) Discovery of meteorites on a blue ice field near Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, Antarctica. In Workshop on Antarctic Meteorites (eds. ), pp. 30–33. LPI Technical Report 86-01, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. DELISLE G. ET AL. (1989) Meteorite finds near the Frontier Mountain Range in North Victoria Land. Geologisches Jahrbuch E38, 483–513. FAURE G. AND BUCHANAN D. (1991) Ablation rates of the ice fields in the vicinity of the Allan Hills, Victoria Land, Antarctica. In Contributions to Antarctic Research II (ed. D. H. Elliot), pp. 19–31. Antarctic Research Series 53. FOLCO L., FRANCHI I. A., MELLINI M. AND PILLINGER C. T. (1995) Report on activities undertaken by the EUROMET/PNRA meteorite collection expedition to Frontier Mountain, North Victoria Land, during the 1993–94 Antarctic field season. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 27–29. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. FOLCO L., MELLINI M., MENEGHEL M. AND PERCHIAZZI N. (1996) The 1995/96 PNRA/EUROMET meteorite collection expedition: New finds from Frontier Mountain and reconnaissance of blue ice fields in the Rennick Glacier region (North Victoria Land, Antarctica). In Materiali del Dipartimento di Geografia "G. Morandini". Convegno Nazionale di Glaciologia Antartica, June 11–12, Padova, Italy. FOLCO L. AND MELLINI M. (2000) 1990–2000: Ten years of Antarctic meteorite search by the Italian PNRA. Antarctic Meteorites 25, 8–9. GANOVEX III (1987) Geological map of North Victoria Land, Antarctica, 1:500 000—Explanatory notes—German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition 1982/83. Geologisches Jahrbuch 2, 7–79. GRADY M. M., HUTCHISON R., MCCALL G. J. H. AND ROTHERY D. A. (1998) Introduction. In Meteorites: Flux with Time and Impact Effects (eds. M. M. Grady, R. Hutchison, G. J. H. McCall and D. A. Rothery), pp. 1–5. Geological Society, Special Publications 140, London, U.K. GRAHAM A. L. AND ANNEXSTAD J. O. (1989) Antarctic meteorites. Antarct. Sci. 1, 3–14. GUNN B. M. AND WARREN G. (1962) Geology of Victoria Land between the Mawson and Mulock Glaciers, Antarctica. Bull. N. Z. Geol. Surv. 71, 1–157. HALLIDAY I., BLACKWELL A. T. AND GRIFFIN A. A. (1989) The flux of meteorites to Earth's surface. Meteoritics 24, 173–178. HARVEY R. P. (1995) Moving targets: The effects of supply, wind movement, and search losses on Antarctic meteorite size distribution. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad, and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 34–36. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. HARVEY R. P. AND CASSIDY W. A. (1989) A statistical comparison of Antarctic finds and modern falls: Mass frequency distributions and relative abundance by type. Meteoritics 24, 9–14. HÖFLE H-C. (1989) The glacial history of the Outback Nunataks Area in Western North Victoria Land. Geologisches Jahrbuch E38, 335–355. HUSS G. R. (1990) Meteorite infall as a function of mass: Implications for the accumulation of meteorites on Antarctic ice. Meteoritics 25, 41–56. IKEDA Y. AND KIMURA M. (1992) Mass distribution of Antarctic ordinary chondrites and the estimation of the fall-to-specimen ratios. Meteoritics 27, 435–441. JULL A. J. T., CLOUDT S. AND CIELASZYK E. (1998) In Meteorites: Flux with Time and Impact Effects (eds. M. M. Grady, R. Hutchison, G. J. H. McCall and D. A. Rothery), pp. 1–5. Geological Society, Special Publications 140, London, U.K. KOEBERL C. (1989) Iridium enrichment in volcanic dust from blue ice fields, Antarctica, and possible relevance to the K/T boundary event. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 92, 317–322. KOEBERL C., YANAI K., CASSIDY W. A. AND SCHUTT J. W. (1988) Investigation of dust bands from blue ice fields in the Lewis Cliff (Beardmore) area, Antarctica: A progress report. Antarctic Meteorites 1, 291–309. LINDSTROM M. M. AND SCORE R. (1995) Populations, pairing and rare meteorites in the U.S. Antarctic meteorite collection. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 43–45. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. NAGATA T. (1978) A possible mechanism of concentration of meteorites within the Meteorite Ice Field in Antarctica. Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue 8, 70–92. NISHIIZUMI K. (1995) Terrestrial ages of meteorites from cold and hot regions. In Workshop on Meteorites from Cold and Hot Deserts (eds. L. Schultz, J. O. Annexstad and M. E. Zolensky), pp. 53–55. LPI Technical Report 95-02, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA. NISHIIZUMI K., ELMORE D. AND KUBIK P. W. (1989) Update on terrestrial ages of Antarctic meteorites. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 93, 299–313. OERLEMANS J. AND VAN DER VEEN C. J. (1984) Ice Sheets and Climate. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland. 217 pp. ORHEIM O. AND LUCCHITTA B. K. (1988) Snow and ice studies by Thematic Mapper and multispectral scanner Landsat images. Annals Glaciology 9, 109–118. OROMBELLI G., BARONI C. AND DENTON G. H. (1990) Late Cenozoic glacial history of the Terra Nova Bay region, northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geogr. Fis. Dinam. Quat. 13, 139–163. PALLADINO A. F., FOLCO L. AND MELLINI M. (1996) GIS applications to the Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (North Victoria Land, Antarctica). In Materiali del Dipartimento di Geografia "G. Morandini". Convegno Nazionale di Glaciologia Antartica, June 11–12, Padova, Italy. PERCHIAZZI N., FOLCO L. AND MELLINI M. (1999) Volcanic ash bands in the Frontier Mountain and Lichen Hills blue-ice fields, northern Victoria Land. Antarctic Sci. 11, 353–361. REMY F., SHAEFFER P. AND LEGRESY B. (1999) Ice flow processes derived from the ERS-1 high resolution map of the Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets. Geophysical J. Intl. 139, 645–656 SCHERER P., ANNEXSTAD J. AND NEUPERT U. (1997) Allan Hills 88019: An Antarctic H-chondrite with a very long terrestrial age. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 32, 769–773. SCHULTZ L. AND ANNEXSTAD J. (1984) Ablation and ice movement at the Allan Hills Main Icefield between 1978 and 1981. In Field and Laboratory Investigations of Meteorites from Victoria Land, Antarctica (eds. U. B. Marvin and B. Mason), pp. 17–22. Smithsonian Contribution to Earth Sciences 26. SCHULTZ L., ANNEXSTAD J. AND DELISLE G. (1990) Ice movement and mass balance at the Allan Hills Icefield. Antarctic J. USA 25, 94–95. SCHUTT J., SCHULTZ L., ZINNER L. AND ZOLENSKY M. (1986) Search for meteorites in the Allan Hills region 1985–86. Antarctic J. USA 21, 82–83. TERRIBILINI D., EUGSTER O., HERZOG G. F. AND SCHNABEL C. 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Geological Society, Special Publications 140, London, U.K. http://hdl.handle.net/2122/3896 restricted Frontier Mountain Antarctic meteorite trap remote sensing glaciological data 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.04. Magnetic and electrical methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.05. Downhole radioactivity and other methods 04. Solid Earth::04.02. Exploration geophysics::04.02.06. Seismic methods article 2002 ftingv 2022-07-29T06:04:55Z The Frontier Mountain blue ice field is an important Antarctic meteorite trap which has yielded 472 meteorite specimens since its discovery in 1984. Remote sensing analyses and field campaigns from 1993 to 1999 have furnished new glaciological data on ice flow, ice thickness, bedrock topography, ice ablation and surface mass transport by wind, along with detailed descriptions of the field situation at the trap. This solid set of data combined with an updated meteorite distribution map and terrestrial ages available from literature allows us to better describe the nature of the concentration mechanism. In particular, we observe that the meteorite trap forms in a blue ice field (1) located upstream of an absolute and a shallow sub-ice barriers; (2) characterized by compressive ice flow with horizontal velocities decreasing from 100 to <10 cm/year on approaching the obstacle; (3) undergoing mean ablation rates of 6.5 cm/year; (4) nourished by a limited snow accumulation zone extending ∼20 km upstream of the blue ice area. We also draw the following conclusions: (1) the origin of the meteorite trap can be explained according to the present-day glaciological situation; (2) the meteorite concentration develops according to the general principles of the "ice flow model"; (3) the accumulation model can be described as "stagnant ice or slow-moving ice against an absolute and submerged barriers", according to the descriptive schemes present in literature; (4) the Frontier Mountain ice field is an effective trap for meteorites weighing more than ∼200 g; for smaller masses, the combination of wind and glacial drift may remove meteorites in less than a few tens of thousands of years; (5) although the activation age of the Frontier Mountain trap is not yet constrained, we infer that one of the most important findsites may be as old as 50 ka, predating the last glacial maximum. Published 209-228 JCR Journal reserved Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Earth-Prints (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia) Antarctic Frontier Mountain ENVELOPE(160.333,160.333,-72.983,-72.983) |