Micrometeorite collections: a review and their current status

van Ginneken, Matthias, Wozniakiewicz, Penelope J., Brownlee, Donald E., Debaille, Vinciane, Della Corte, Vincenzo, Delauche, Lucie, Duprat, Jean, Engrand, Cecile, Folco, Luigi, Fries, Marc, and others. (2024) Micrometeorite collections: a review and their current status. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 382 (2273). Article Number 20230195. ISSN 1471-2962. (doi:10.1098/rsta.2023.0195) (KAR id:106043)

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2023.0195

Abstract

Micrometeorites are estimated to represent the main part of the present flux of extraterrestrial matter found on the Earth’s surface and provide valuable samples to probe the interplanetary medium. Here, we describe large and representative collections of micrometeorites currently available to the scientific community. These include Antarctic collections from surface ice and snow, as well as glacial sediments from the eroded top of nunataks—summits outcropping from the icesheet—and moraines. Collections extracted from deep-sea sediments (DSS) produced a large number of micrometeorites, in particular, iron-rich cosmic spherules that are rarer in other collections. Collections from the old and stable surface of the Atacama Desert show that finding large numbers of micrometeorites is not restricted to polar regions or DSS. The advent of rooftop collections marks an important step into involving citizen science in the study of micrometeorites, as well as providing potential sampling locations over all latitudes to explore the modern flux. We explore their strengths of the collections to address specific scientific questions and their potential weaknesses. The future of micrometeorite research will involve the finding of large fossil micrometeorite collections and benefit from recent advances in sampling cosmic dust directly from the air. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Dust in the Solar System and beyond’.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1098/rsta.2023.0195
Additional information:	For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Uncontrolled keywords:	micrometeorites, cosmic dust, planetary science
Subjects:	Q Science
Divisions:	Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Funders:	Science and Technology Facilities Council (https://ror.org/057g20z61) Fund for Scientific Research (https://ror.org/03q83t159) Agence Nationale de la Recherche (https://ror.org/00rbzpz17) Institut Polaire Français Paul Émile Victor (https://ror.org/011ed2d57)
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Publications Router
Depositing User:	JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited:	29 May 2024 13:19 UTC
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2024 13:11 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/106043 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

van Ginneken, Matthias.

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2508-7021
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Wozniakiewicz, Penelope J..

Creator's ORCID:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1441-4883
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

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