Meteorite trap
Areas in Antarctica on so-called blue ice fields are known as meteorite traps , in which a disproportionately large number of meteorites can be found in a confined space , which have collected there over tens of thousands of years.
Blue ice fields arise where, due to the edge of the terrain below the ice sheet, the flowing glacier pushes deep layers of ice to the surface. With the ice in the deeper layers, the meteorites that have sunk in the firn and glaciers also come to the surface. In order for a meteorite trap to form, it is necessary that ice on the surface shrink through sublimation that is intensified by strong winds. It is also important that the meteorites do not heat up too much, so that they sink back into the ice as a result of melting processes. This is only the case if it is cold enough at the point in question, that is, if it is high enough.
Another prerequisite for the formation of a meteorite trap is that the ice cover is not subject to any major fluctuations at this point over a longer period of time. By dating the meteorites found at such a point, conclusions can be drawn about the climatic development and climate models can be verified in this way.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Knauer: Analysis of the cosmogenic radionuclides 10 Be, 14 C and 26 Al in stone meteorites using accelerator mass spectrometry ( Memento from July 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), dissertation, University of Hannover, 1994, p. 9