The classification of micrometeorites |
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| Authors: | M. J. Genge C. Engrand M. Gounelle S. Taylor |
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| Affiliation: | 1. IARC, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK and The Natural History Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BT, UK;2. Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse, CNRS/IN2P3‐Univ. Paris XI, 91405 Orsay‐Campus, France;3. Laboratoire d‘étude de la Matière Extraterrestre, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Case Postale 52, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France;4. U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract— Due to their small size, the mineralogical and chemical properties of micrometeorites (MMs) are not representative of their parent bodies on the centimeter to meter scales that are used to define parent body groups through the petrological study of meteorites. Identifying which groups of MM are derived from the same type of parent body is problematic and requires particles to be rigorously grouped on the basis of mineralogical, textural, and chemical properties that reflect the fundamental genetic differences between meteorite parent bodies, albeit with minimal bias towards preconceived genetic models. Specifically, the interpretation of MMs requires a rigorous and meaningful classification scheme. At present the classification of MMs is, however, at best ambiguous. A unified petrological‐chemical classification scheme is proposed in the current study and is based on observations of several thousand MMs collected from Antarctic ice. |
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