Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces
Over 10,000 meteorite fragments have been collected on only a dozen or so small icefields in Antarctica. The terrestrial history of these meteorites is important, both from the perspective of the effects of their ambient environment on the meteorites themselves, and on the information that can be de...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:19980048382 2023-05-15T13:42:49+02:00 Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces Sears, D. W. G. Benoit, P. H. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available 1997 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19980048382 unknown Document ID: 19980048382 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19980048382 No Copyright CASI Astrophysics NASA/CR-97-207734 NAS 1.26:207734 1997 ftnasantrs 2019-08-31T23:02:17Z Over 10,000 meteorite fragments have been collected on only a dozen or so small icefields in Antarctica. The terrestrial history of these meteorites is important, both from the perspective of the effects of their ambient environment on the meteorites themselves, and on the information that can be derived in relation to ice flow and ice stability over periods of time up to 1 million years. We discuss the relative importance of meteorite infall, and ice and aeolian transport in creating meteorite accumulations and the importance of ice and aeolian transport and weathering in removing meteorites at various icefields in Antarctica. The present analysis is confined to equibrated ordinary chondrites. We use the natural thermoluminescence (TL) to to examine the effects of weathering. Natural TL is used in combination with size analysis to gauge the effects of aeolian transport. Some icefields, especially the Lewis Cliff Ice Tongue, are dominated by wind-transported fragments, while others, including the Far Western field at Allan Hills, have lost fragments. It appears that most Antarctic icefields preserve meteorite collections on time scales of a few tens of thousands of years. Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Allan Hills ENVELOPE(159.667,159.667,-76.717,-76.717) Antarctic Lewis Cliff ENVELOPE(161.083,161.083,-84.283,-84.283) |
institution |
Open Polar |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Astrophysics |
spellingShingle |
Astrophysics Sears, D. W. G. Benoit, P. H. Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces |
topic_facet |
Astrophysics |
description |
Over 10,000 meteorite fragments have been collected on only a dozen or so small icefields in Antarctica. The terrestrial history of these meteorites is important, both from the perspective of the effects of their ambient environment on the meteorites themselves, and on the information that can be derived in relation to ice flow and ice stability over periods of time up to 1 million years. We discuss the relative importance of meteorite infall, and ice and aeolian transport in creating meteorite accumulations and the importance of ice and aeolian transport and weathering in removing meteorites at various icefields in Antarctica. The present analysis is confined to equibrated ordinary chondrites. We use the natural thermoluminescence (TL) to to examine the effects of weathering. Natural TL is used in combination with size analysis to gauge the effects of aeolian transport. Some icefields, especially the Lewis Cliff Ice Tongue, are dominated by wind-transported fragments, while others, including the Far Western field at Allan Hills, have lost fragments. It appears that most Antarctic icefields preserve meteorite collections on time scales of a few tens of thousands of years. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Sears, D. W. G. Benoit, P. H. |
author_facet |
Sears, D. W. G. Benoit, P. H. |
author_sort |
Sears, D. W. G. |
title |
Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces |
title_short |
Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces |
title_full |
Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces |
title_fullStr |
Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces |
title_full_unstemmed |
Meteorite Infall and Transport in Antarctica: An Analysis of Icefields as Accumulation Surfaces |
title_sort |
meteorite infall and transport in antarctica: an analysis of icefields as accumulation surfaces |
publishDate |
1997 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19980048382 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(159.667,159.667,-76.717,-76.717) ENVELOPE(161.083,161.083,-84.283,-84.283) |
geographic |
Allan Hills Antarctic Lewis Cliff |
geographic_facet |
Allan Hills Antarctic Lewis Cliff |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 19980048382 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19980048382 |
op_rights |
No Copyright |
_version_ |
1766173099333517312 |