Year: 2024
Type: review
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'.
Authors: Matthias van Ginneken, Penelope J. Wozniakiewicz, Donald E. Brownlee, Vinciane Debaille, Vincenzo Della Corte, Lucie Delauche, Jean Duprat, Cecile Engrand, Luigi Folco, Marc Fries, Jérôme Gattacceca, Matthew J. Genge, Steven Goderis, Matthieu Gounelle, Ralph P. Harvey, Guido Jonker, Lisa Krämer Ruggiu, Jon Larsen, James H. Lever, Takaaki Noguchi, Scott Peterson, Pierre Rochette, Julien Rojas, Alessandra Rotundi, N. G. Rudraswami, Martin D. Suttle, Susan Taylor, Flore Van Maldeghem, Michael Zolensky
Institutions: University of Kent, University of Washington, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology, National Institute for Astrophysics, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Saclay, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie, Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie, University of Pisa, Johnson Space Center, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Centre de Recherche et d’Enseignement de Géosciences de l’Environnement, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Imperial College London, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Case Western Reserve University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Kyoto University, Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Parthenope University of Naples, National Institute of Oceanography, The Open University
Language: English
Topic: Astro and Planetary Science
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4396865927