南极格罗夫山陨石的分类及其研究意义

陨石是来自地球之外的岩石样品,是研究太阳系的起源与演化的重要窗口。半个多世纪以来,国际上在南极冰盖上发现了大量陨石样品,证实了南极是地球上最重要的陨石富集区。1998年中国首次在格罗夫山地区发现南极陨石,经过4次南极考察,共收集陨石样品9834块。这不但填补了中国在该领域的空白,也为中国积累了大量珍贵的科学样品。目前,中国先后6年开展了陨石分类研究工作,并取得了显著进展:(1)完成了684块陨石的分类命名,其中发现了许多特殊类型陨石,如火星陨石、橄辉无球粒陨石、碳质球粒陨石等;(2)初步建立了陨石库和资源共享网络平台;(3)通过南极系统分类研究,建立了南极陨石分类程序、样品管理和申请程序;(4)通过国内陨石分类合作研究,培养了一批年轻专业人才。

CLASSIFICATION OF METEORITES FROM THE GROVE MOUNTAINS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

Meteorites are the extraterrestrial rocks,which provide insights into the origin and evolution of the solar system.In the past half century,a great number of meteorites have been discovered on the Antarctic Ice Sheet,confirming that the Antarctica is the most important meteorite concentration in the earth.Since the first four Antarctic meteorites were found in Grove Mountains in 1998,a total number of 9834 meteorites have been collected by four expeditions.It breaks a new field of meteorite study in China,and also accumulates a great deal of scientific samples for China.Recently,classification of Grove Mountains meteorites has been carried out for 6 years,and some progresses have been made:(1) 684 meteorites,including many special meteorites,e.g.Martian meteorites,ureilites and carbonaceous chondrites,have been classified;(2) The Antarctic meteorite house and the sharing net system are set up preliminarily;(3) The classification procedure,the management of meteorite samples,and the application procedure for the Antarctic meteorites are completed after the systematic classification during these years;(4) The young scientists are trained through the cooperation of many universities and institutes on meteorite classification.