Status Note on Indian Attempts to Search for Meteorites in Antarctica
Authors
-
Geological Survey of India, SU: Odisha, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar – 751 012
Ashit Kumar Swain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-021-1791-2Keywords:
No KeywordsAbstract
The study of meteorites is gaining importance due to its importance in understanding the development of our solar system. Published data shows that out of a total of 57186 meteorites recovered from the earth, 42398 are from Antarctica. This huge contribution of Antarctic meteorites is unique to Antarctica, as it allows the preservation of meteorites and concentrates them in highly ablative stranding surfaces. These surface or meteorite traps are formed as a result of topographic obstacles to the flow of the Polar ice sheet. Large tracts of central Droning Maud Land (cDML) in East Antarctica are still unexplored for meteorites. For the benefit of the global scientific community, it is desirable to recover as many Antarctic meteorites as possible before sinking deeper into the ice as a result of the changing climate and eventually being lost to the sea. The meteorite search programme was launched in the 32nd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. The primary objective of that investigation was to conduct a preliminary survey in the vicinity of the Somovken glacier flowing between the Humboldt and the Orvin mountain ranges for the prospect of finding meteorites. The search exercise was used to gain an understanding of the science of meteorites operating in Antarctica and the meteorite concentration mechanism. It was later complimented with the micrometeorite search programme in Antarctica.
Downloads
Metrics
Issue
Section
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
References
Annexstad, J. (1986) Meteorite concentration mechanisms in Antarctica. Lunar and Planetary Inst. International Workshop on Antarctic Meteorites, pp. 23-25.
Annexstad, J. and Schultz, L. (1983) Measurements of the triangulation network at the Allan Hills meteorite icefield. In: R. L. Oliver, P. R. James and J. B. Jago (Eds.), Antarctic Earth Science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp.617–619.
Asthana, R., Shrivastava, P.K., Swain, A.K., Srivastava, H.B., Beg, M.J. and Dharwadkar, A. (2018) Role of Lithology weathering and precipitation on water chemistry of lakes from Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher Region of East Antarctica. Advances in Polar Science, v.30(1), pp.35-51.
Bland, P.A., Smith, T.B., Jull, A.J.T., Berry, F.J., Bevan, A.W.R., Cloudt, S., and Pillinger, C.T. (1996) The flux of meteorites to the Earth over the last 50000 years. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronom. Soc., v.283, pp.551- 565.
Bland, P.A. and Artemieva, N.A. (2006) The rate of small impacts on Earth. Meteor. Planet. Sci., v.41(4), pp.607-631.
Cassidy W.A., Harvey R.P., Schutt J., Delisle G., and Yanai K. (1992) The meteorite collection sites of Antarctica. Meteoritics, v.27, pp.490-525.
Folco, L., Capra, A., Chiappini, M., Frezzotti, M., Mellini, M., and Tabacco, I.E. (2002) The Frontier Mountain meteorite trap (Antarctica). Meteoritics and Planetary Sci., v.37(2), pp.209-228.
Harvey, R. (2003) The origin and significance of Antarctic meteorites. Chemie der Erde, v.63(2), pp.93–147.
Heeswijk, M.V. (1984) Meteorite concentration by ice flow. Institute of Polar Studies, Ohio State University, Report no.83.
Maurette, M., Jehanno, C., Robin, E., and Hammer, C. (1987) Characteristics and mass distribution of extraterrestrial dust from the Greeenland ice cap. Nature, v.328(20), pp.699-702.
Maurette M., Olinger C., Michel-Levy Ch.M., Kurat G., Purchet M., Brandstatter F., and Bourot-Denise M. (1991) A collection of diverse micrometeorites recovered from 100 tonnes of Antarctic blue ice. Nature, v.351, pp.44-47.
Mukerji, S. (1995) Prologue to the aims and achievements of Eleventh Indian Expedition to Antarctica. Scientific Report of Eleventh Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. Department of Ocean Development, New Delhi, pp.3-11.
Nagata, T. (1978) A possible mechanism of concentration of meteorites within the Meteorite Ice Field in Antarctica. Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res. Spec. Issue, no.8, pp.70-92.
Nishio, F. and Annexstad, J. (1979) Studies on the ice flow in the bare ice area near the Allan hills, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res. Spec. Issue no.17, pp.1-13.
Robert A. Wharton, Jr., Christopher P. McKay, George M. Simmons, Jr. and Bruce C. Parker. (1985) Cryoconite Holes on Glaciers. BioScience, v.35(8), pp.499-503.
Rudraswami, N.G., Fernandes, D., Naik, A.K., Shyam Prasad, M., Carrillo- Sanchez, J.D., Plane, J.M.C., Feng, W. and Taylor, S. (2018) Selective Disparity of Ordinary Chondritic Precursors in Micrometeorite Flux. Astrophysical Jour., v.853(1), pp.38. DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/aaa5f7
Rudraswami, N.G., Fernandes, D. and Pandey, M. (2020a) Probing the nature of extraterrestrial dust reaching the Earth’s surface collected from the Maitri station, Antarctica. Meteor. Planet. Sci., pp.1-11. DOI: 10.1111/ maps.13574.
Rudraswami, N.G., Genge, M.J., Marrocchi, Y., Villeneuve, J. and Taylor, S. (2020b) The oxygen isotope compositions of large numbers of small cosmic spherules: Implications for their sources and the isotopic composition of the upper atmosphere. Jour. Geophys. Res.: Planets, v.125, e2020J E006414. DOI:10.1029/2020JE006414
Swain, A.K. and Raghuram (2013) Meteorite search in central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica during the 32nd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. Unpublished Report, Polar Studies Division, Mission IV, pp. 1-17.
Swain, A.K. (2016) Meteorites - Cosmic wonder on Earth. Science Horizon, v.6(3), pp. 9-12.
Swain, A.K. (2018) Bathymetry of Schirmacher Lakes as a tool for Geomorphological studies. In: Siegert, M.J., Jameison, S.S.R. & White, D.A. (Eds.), Exploration of Subsurface Antarctica: Uncovering Past Changes and Modern Processes. Geol. Soc. London, Spec. Publ., no.461, pp.77-93. DOI:10.1144/SP461.13.
Swain, A.K. (2019) Influence of thermal conductivity of rocks on Polar ice sheet recession near Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica. Jour. Geol. Soc. India, v.93(4), pp.455-465. DOI:10.1007/s12594-019-1200-2.
Swain, A.K. (2020) Glacier Stress Pattern as an indicator for climate change. Climate Change and the White World. pp.119-138. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-21679-5_9.
Swain, A.K. and Goswami, S. (2014) Continuous GPR survey using Multiple Low Frequency antennas – case studies from Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica. Internat. Jour. Earth Sci. Engg., v.7(4), pp.1623- 1629.
Taylor, S., Lever, J.H. and Harvey, R.P. (2000) Number, types and compositions of an unbiased collection of cosmic spherules. Meteor. Planet. Sci., v.35, pp.651-666.
Thakur, P.K., Chouksey, A., Kalura, P., Ghosh, S., Dhote, P., Swain, A., Kalia, M., Garg, V., Nikam, B.R., Kumar, P., Aggrawal, S.P., Chauhan, P. and Kumar, A.S. (2018) Indian inland water and parts of Antarctic Ice Sheet elevation and ice sheet velocity monitoring using Altimetry and SAR based datasets. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, v.XLII-5, pp.367-373. DOI:10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-5-367-2018.
Whillans. I M., Cassidy, W.A. (1983) Catch a Falling Star: Meteorites and Old Ice, Science, v.222, pp.55-57.
Yanai, K. (1978) First Meteorites found in Victoria Land, Antarctica, December 1976 and January 1977. Mem. Natl. Inst. Polar Res. Spec. Issue no.8, pp.51-69.
Websites AMLAMP: Website of the Antarctic Meteorite Location And Mapping Project (http://geology.cwru.edu:16080/~amlamp/intro/). Information as on December 2017. ANSMET: Website of Antarctic Search for Meteorites (www.ansmet.org). Information as on December 2017. Meteoritical Bulletin Website (www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor). Information as on 18 December 2017. SAMBA: Website of Search for Antarctic Meteorites, Belgian Approach. (www.antarcticstation.org). Information as on December 2017.
