The spatial flux of Earth’s meteorite falls found via Antarctic data

Evatt, Geoffrey W.; Smedley, Andrew R. D.; Joy, K. H.; Hunter, Louise; Tey, W.H.; Abrahams, I. David; Gerrish, Laura

doi:10.1130/g46733.1

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…This value is, however, lower than the other estimates (Bland et al 1996 andDrouard et al 2019), which are based on field searches. The Evatt et al (2020) estimate based on the study of meteorites found in Antarctic blue ice gives a mid-range value that is consistent with all previous estimates.…”

Section: Meteorite Falls and First Field Searchsupporting

confidence: 89%

FRIPON: a worldwide network to track incoming meteoroids

Colas

Zanda

Bouley

et al. 2020

A&A

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Context. Until recently, camera networks designed for monitoring fireballs worldwide were not fully automated, implying that in case of a meteorite fall, the recovery campaign was rarely immediate. This was an important limiting factor as the most fragile – hence precious – meteorites must be recovered rapidly to avoid their alteration. Aims. The Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation Network (FRIPON) scientific project was designed to overcome this limitation. This network comprises a fully automated camera and radio network deployed over a significant fraction of western Europe and a small fraction of Canada. As of today, it consists of 150 cameras and 25 European radio receivers and covers an area of about 1.5 × 106 km2. Methods. The FRIPON network, fully operational since 2018, has been monitoring meteoroid entries since 2016, thereby allowing the characterization of their dynamical and physical properties. In addition, the level of automation of the network makes it possible to trigger a meteorite recovery campaign only a few hours after it reaches the surface of the Earth. Recovery campaigns are only organized for meteorites with final masses estimated of at least 500 g, which is about one event per year in France. No recovery campaign is organized in the case of smaller final masses on the order of 50 to 100 g, which happens about three times a year; instead, the information is delivered to the local media so that it can reach the inhabitants living in the vicinity of the fall. Results. Nearly 4000 meteoroids have been detected so far and characterized by FRIPON. The distribution of their orbits appears to be bimodal, with a cometary population and a main belt population. Sporadic meteors amount to about 55% of all meteors. A first estimate of the absolute meteoroid flux (mag < –5; meteoroid size ≥~1 cm) amounts to 1250/yr/106 km2. This value is compatible with previous estimates. Finally, the first meteorite was recovered in Italy (Cavezzo, January 2020) thanks to the PRISMA network, a component of the FRIPON science project.

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Section: Meteorite Falls and First Field Searchsupporting

confidence: 89%

FRIPON: a worldwide network to track incoming meteoroids

Colas

Zanda

Bouley

et al. 2020

A&A

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“…Meteorites are asteroidal (or rarely cometary; Gounelle et al 2006) fragments recovered at the Earth's surface either promptly after their falls (e.g., Hiroi et al 2001;Jenniskens et al 2012;Marrocchi et al 2020) or during field trips to cold/hot deserts (e.g., Bischoff and Geiger 1985;Schl€ uter et al 2002;Harvey 2003;Gattacceca et al 2011;Evatt et al 2020). Meteorites' parent bodies are leftovers from the planetary formation processes that operated during the evolution of the solar system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The astrophysical context of collision processes in meteorites

Marrocchi

Delbò

Gounelle

2021

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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Chondrites are leftover solids from the early evolution of the solar protoplanetary disk that never experienced melting since their formation. They comprise unequilibrated assemblages of low-and high-temperature components, including volatile-rich, fine-grained matrices, Fe-Ni metal, sulfides, refractory inclusions, and chondrules. Consequently, chondrites are commonly described as pristine, primitive, or primordial rocks of the solar system. However, impact-generated secondary features are abundant in chondrites, suggesting that collisions among early-formed planetesimals and their fragmentation and reassembly have been effective throughout the evolution of the solar system. In this report, we review evidence of the major role of impacts in generating the current mineralogical and petrographic characteristics of chondrites. We provide perspective to these meteoritic features by discussing recent analyses of large-scale structures of the main asteroid belt and remote-sensing observations of asteroids. Observations at various spatial scales all attest that the "primitive" materials formed during the evolution of the solar system have largely been reprocessed, confirming previous studies that primitivity is relative, not absolute. This implies that (1) chondrites (and some differentiated meteorites) should systematically be envisioned as reprocessed and heterogeneous materials and (2) brecciated meteorites should be considered the norm and unbrecciated meteorites the exception.

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“…In contrast, Evatt et al. (2020) suggest a ratio of 0.7 on the basis of variations in meteorite find abundance in Antarctica; however, the complexity of ice flow and its control on meteorite accumulation of the surface might be expected to lead to significant uncertainty in this estimate. Comparisons between larger objects and extraterrestrial dust are not straightforward since latitude‐dependent variations in flux are dependent on the nonhomogeneous distribution of incoming trajectories and geocentric velocity; however, they do suggest that the effect is relatively small in comparison to other uncertainties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Extraterrestrial dust as a source of bioavailable iron contributing to the ocean for driving primary productivity

Rudraswami

Pandey

Genge

et al. 2021

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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Bioavailable Fe is an essential nutrient for phytoplankton that enables the organisms to flourish and draw down atmospheric CO2 thus affecting global climatic conditions. In marine locales, remote from the continents, extraterrestrial dust provides an important source of Fe and thus moderates primary productivity. Here, we provide constraints on partitioning of extraterrestrial Fe between seawater and sediments from the observations of dissolution and the alteration of cosmic spherules recovered from deep‐sea sediments and Antarctica. Of the ∼3000–14,000 t a−1 extraterrestrial dust that reaches Earth's surface, ∼2–5% material falling in the oceans survives in marine sediments while the remainder is liberated into seawater. Both processes contribute ∼(3–10) × 10−8 mol Fe m−2 yr−1. The Fe contribution of surviving particles due to etching is estimated to be ∼10% of Fe contribution of meteoric smoke. Changes in extraterrestrial dust flux over geological time scales not only vary Fe delivery to the oceans by up to three orders of magnitude but also the partitioning of Fe between surface and abyssal waters depending on entry velocity and evaporation.

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The spatial flux of Earth’s meteorite falls found via Antarctic data

Cited by 19 publications

References 28 publications

FRIPON: a worldwide network to track incoming meteoroids

FRIPON: a worldwide network to track incoming meteoroids

The astrophysical context of collision processes in meteorites

Extraterrestrial dust as a source of bioavailable iron contributing to the ocean for driving primary productivity

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