Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains
We report the discovery of large accumulations of micrometeorites on the Myr-old, glacially eroded granitic summits of several isolated nunataks in the Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains. The number (>3,500) of large (>400 μm and up to 2 mm in size) melted and unmelted particles is orders...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11568/180577 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806049105 |
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ftunivpisairis:oai:arpi.unipi.it:11568/180577 2024-04-14T08:03:43+00:00 Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains Rochette P FOLCO, LUIGI Suavet C van Ginneken M Gattacceca J PERCHIAZZI, NATALE Braucher R Harvey R. Rochette, P Folco, Luigi Suavet, C van Ginneken, M Gattacceca, J Perchiazzi, Natale Braucher, R Harvey, R. 2008 STAMPA http://hdl.handle.net/11568/180577 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806049105 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000261489300032 volume:105 issue:47 firstpage:18206 lastpage:18211 numberofpages:6 journal:PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA http://hdl.handle.net/11568/180577 doi:10.1073/pnas.0806049105 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-57449085759 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2008 ftunivpisairis https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806049105 2024-03-21T18:35:59Z We report the discovery of large accumulations of micrometeorites on the Myr-old, glacially eroded granitic summits of several isolated nunataks in the Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains. The number (>3,500) of large (>400 μm and up to 2 mm in size) melted and unmelted particles is orders of magnitudes greater than other Antarctic collections. Flux estimates, bedrock exposure ages and the presence of ≈0.8-Myr-old microtektites suggest that extraterrestrial dust collection occurred over the last 1 Myr, taking up to 500 kyr to accumulate based on 2 investigated find sites. The size distribution and frequency by type of cosmic spherules in the >200-μm size fraction collected at Frontier Mountain (investigated in detail in this report) are similar to those of the most representative known micrometeorite populations (e.g., South Pole Water Well). This and the identification of unusual types in terms of composition (i.e., chondritic micrometeorites and spherulitic aggregates similar to the ≈480-kyr-old ones recently found in Antarctic ice cores) and size suggest that the Transantarctic Mountain micrometeorites constitute a unique and essentially unbiased collection that greatly extends the micrometeorite inventory and provides material for studies on micrometeorite fluxes over the recent (≈1 Myr) geological past. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic South pole South pole Victoria Land ARPI - Archivio della Ricerca dell'Università di Pisa Antarctic Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains South Pole Frontier Mountain ENVELOPE(160.333,160.333,-72.983,-72.983) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 47 18206 18211 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ARPI - Archivio della Ricerca dell'Università di Pisa |
op_collection_id |
ftunivpisairis |
language |
English |
description |
We report the discovery of large accumulations of micrometeorites on the Myr-old, glacially eroded granitic summits of several isolated nunataks in the Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains. The number (>3,500) of large (>400 μm and up to 2 mm in size) melted and unmelted particles is orders of magnitudes greater than other Antarctic collections. Flux estimates, bedrock exposure ages and the presence of ≈0.8-Myr-old microtektites suggest that extraterrestrial dust collection occurred over the last 1 Myr, taking up to 500 kyr to accumulate based on 2 investigated find sites. The size distribution and frequency by type of cosmic spherules in the >200-μm size fraction collected at Frontier Mountain (investigated in detail in this report) are similar to those of the most representative known micrometeorite populations (e.g., South Pole Water Well). This and the identification of unusual types in terms of composition (i.e., chondritic micrometeorites and spherulitic aggregates similar to the ≈480-kyr-old ones recently found in Antarctic ice cores) and size suggest that the Transantarctic Mountain micrometeorites constitute a unique and essentially unbiased collection that greatly extends the micrometeorite inventory and provides material for studies on micrometeorite fluxes over the recent (≈1 Myr) geological past. |
author2 |
Rochette, P Folco, Luigi Suavet, C van Ginneken, M Gattacceca, J Perchiazzi, Natale Braucher, R Harvey, R. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rochette P FOLCO, LUIGI Suavet C van Ginneken M Gattacceca J PERCHIAZZI, NATALE Braucher R Harvey R. |
spellingShingle |
Rochette P FOLCO, LUIGI Suavet C van Ginneken M Gattacceca J PERCHIAZZI, NATALE Braucher R Harvey R. Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains |
author_facet |
Rochette P FOLCO, LUIGI Suavet C van Ginneken M Gattacceca J PERCHIAZZI, NATALE Braucher R Harvey R. |
author_sort |
Rochette P |
title |
Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_short |
Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_full |
Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_fullStr |
Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_full_unstemmed |
Micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains |
title_sort |
micrometeorites from the transantarctic mountains |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11568/180577 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806049105 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(160.333,160.333,-72.983,-72.983) |
geographic |
Antarctic Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains South Pole Frontier Mountain |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Victoria Land Transantarctic Mountains South Pole Frontier Mountain |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic South pole South pole Victoria Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic South pole South pole Victoria Land |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000261489300032 volume:105 issue:47 firstpage:18206 lastpage:18211 numberofpages:6 journal:PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA http://hdl.handle.net/11568/180577 doi:10.1073/pnas.0806049105 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-57449085759 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806049105 |
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
105 |
container_issue |
47 |
container_start_page |
18206 |
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