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Meteoritic Material Recovered from the 07 March 2018 Meteorite Fall into the Olympic Coast National Marine SanctuaryOn 07 March 2018 at 20:05 local time (08 March 03:05 UTC), a dramatic meteor occurred over Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) off of the Washington state coast (“OCNMS fall”, henceforth). Data to include seismometry (from both on-shore and submarine seismometers), weather radar imagery (Figure 1), and a moored weather buoy, were used to accurately identify the fall site. The site was visited by the exploration vessel E/V Nautilus (Ocean Exploration Trust) on 01 July 2018 [1] and by the research vessel R/V Falkor (Schmidt Ocean Institute) from 03-06 June 2019. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) from both vessels were used to search for meteorites and sample seafloor sediments. These expeditions performed the first attempts to recover meteorites from a specific observed fall in the open ocean. Analysis of weather radar data indicates that this fall was unusually massive and featured meteorites of unusually high mechanical toughness, such that large meteorites were disproportionately produced compared to other meteorite falls (Figure 2)[2-4]. We report the recovery of many (>100) micrometeorite-sized melt spherules and other fragments, and one small (~1mm3 ) unmelted meteorite fragment identified to date. Approximately 80% of the fragments were recovered from a single sample, collected from a round pit in the seafloor sediment. Melt spherules are almost exclusively type I iron-rich spherules with little discernible oxidation. Analyses are currently underway to attempt to answer the primary science question by identifying the parent meteorite type. Also, differences in the number and nature of samples collected by Nautilus and Falkor reveal a distinct loss rate to oxidation over the 15 months following the fall that is useful to inform future recovery efforts.
Document ID
20200001874
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Abstract
Authors
Fries, M.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Waddell, J.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA-Headquarters) Silver Spring, MD, United States)
Pugel, B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Zeigler, R.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Harvey, R.
(Case Western Reserve Univ. Cleveland, OH, United States)
Welzenbach, L.
(Rice Univ. Houston, TX, United States)
McCubbin, F.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Abell, P.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
March 20, 2020
Publication Date
March 16, 2020
Subject Category
Space Sciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
JSC-E-DAA-TN77871
Meeting Information
Meeting: Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: March 16, 2020
End Date: March 20, 2020
Sponsors: Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI)
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: SAA-XA-17-25143
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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