The meteorite flux of the past 2 m.y. recorded in the Atacama Desert

Drouard, A., Gattacceca, J., Hutzler, A., Rochette, P., Braucher, R., Bourlès, D., Gounelle, M., Morbidelli, A., Debaille, V., van Ginneken, M., and others. (2019) The meteorite flux of the past 2 m.y. recorded in the Atacama Desert. Geology, 47 (7). pp. 673-676. ISSN 0091-7613. E-ISSN 1943-2682. (doi:10.1130/G45831.1) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:88142)

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1130/G45831.1

Abstract

The evolution of the meteorite flux to Earth can be studied by determining the terrestrial ages of meteorites collected in hot deserts. We measured the terrestrial ages of 54 stony meteorites from the El Médano area, in the Atacama Desert, Chile, using the cosmogenic nuclide 36Cl. With an average age of 710 ka, this collection is the oldest collection of nonfossil meteorites at Earth’s surface. This allows both determination of the average meteorite flux intensity over the past 2 m.y. (222 meteorites larger than 10 g per km2 per m.y.) and discussion of its possible compositional variability over the Quaternary Period. A change in the flux composition, with more abundant H chondrites, occurred between 1 and 0.5 Ma, possibly due to the direct delivery to Earth of a meteoroid swarm from the asteroid belt.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1130/G45831.1
Uncontrolled keywords:	absolute age; Atacama Desert; Chile; chlorine; Cl-36; halogens; isotope; meteorite flux; meteorites; radioactive isotopes; South America
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy > QB651 Planets, Minor Q Science > QE Geology > QE515 Geochemistry
Divisions:	Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User:	Matthias Van Ginneken
Date Deposited:	14 May 2021 13:43 UTC
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2024 12:54 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/88142 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

van Ginneken, M..

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