Curatorial functions and the U.S. Antarctic meteorite program

• Main Authors: M.B. Duke, D.D. Bogard, J.O. Annexstad
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center 1981
• Subjects: Antarctic; Cassidy; Antarc*; Antarctica; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1200; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00001200/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1200&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

The discovery of concentrations of meteorites in Antarctica by Japanese field parties in 1969,and subsequently by joint U.S.-Japanese and U.S. field parties since 1976 has provided a significant new resource for understanding the origin and evolution of the solar system. The number of meteorites as well as the variety of meteorites has increased dramatically, and substantial amounts of data derived from their study has begun to appear in the scientific literature. The U.S. program of investigation has drawn on curatorial experience derived from the lunar program to : (1) develop specific collection and preliminary examination protocols (ANNEXSTAD and CASSIDY, Mem. Natl Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue, 17,14,1980); (2) provide documented samples for scientific investigations in response to specific requests; and (3) coordinate research by scientific consortia. The productivity of scientific research is significantly enhanced by these management approaches. This paper describes some of the results of the curatorial program for Antarctic meteorites carried out over the past three years.