Meteorite concentration mechanisms in Antarctica

• Main Author: Faber, Daniel
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2011
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13902

Meteorites are an obscure and finite (within any reasonably time period) land-based resource in Antarctica that are of significant interest to planetary science. They can hold clues to the early formation of the solar system, the formation of the moon and the earth, and even evidence of life on Mars. Meteorites found in Antarctica are extremely well preserved because they have been buried in the ice for up to several hundred thousand years. Following impact, the meteorites are thought to move with the ice and are typically released into the sea and become unrecoverable. However some ice movement does not end in the sea, instead the ice raises against a mountain barrier and is removed by ablation (sublimation, melting and abrasion). The meteorites held within such ablating ice can remain on the surface for extended periods of time, where they have been found in large numbers. This review examines the concentration mechanisms of meteorites in Antarctica, and considers the implications for future rates of meteorite discovery and removal