Meteriotes Flashcards
Where do they come from?
Most from Mars (low escape velocity-stuff gets thrown off easy)
Helps us determine age, composition, and geological activity of world it came from (basalt = GA, gasses trapped in rock = comp)
Moon meteorites are rare
Reflectance Spectroscopy helps determine where they came from
What kinds are there?
Iron - 5%…easier to distinguish from Earth rocks (Metal, weather slowly, LARGE, metal detector)…iron + nickel = widmanstatten pattern
Iron meteorites come from iron core worlds
Rock- Carbonaceous chondrites 4% similar in comp to the sun meaning it hasn’t changed or undergone significant heating because the asteroid it came from is tiny…shows the age of the solar system (zero point)
Cant find because they fall apart easily, has amino acids and volatiles
Rock- Ordinary chondrites 74% rocks have been melted, some iron, no volatiles, medium sized (heated but no core)
Rock- achondrites 8% basalt, impact breccia, pristine highlands…world has to have been geologically active, surface was heavily modified
Iron and Rock- 1.2%…has olivine and iron…come from transition zone between the iron core and rocky mantle of differentiated worlds…world has to be big enough to melt
How did they form?
Jupiter
When did they form?
Beginning of solar system; 4.5…primitive
Where do we find them?
Most arent found because they land in ocean
US & Europe cause people are looking for them
Older land, Dryer places (less competition in terms of other rocks)
Antartica - found in one area cause ice moves and are eroded by mountains but meteorites stay
