[meteorite-list] Serious question?

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:56 2004
Message-ID: <3F67AC62.967F33DC_at_bhil.com>

Hi, Tom,

    Every year the Earth receives tens of thousands of tons of
extraterrestial dust. Most of it is ablated from meteorites entering the
atmosphere, but a small amount is cometary, and solar system dust, and even
a smidge of interstellar dust.
    The best place to find it is in deep ocean sediments, which is where
more than 2/3rds of the dust ends up, but you can find it in the polar ice
caps, too. There have been a lot of studies done on the extraterrestial dust
in ocean oozes.
    A certain amount stays suspended in the atmosphere for long periods and
can be scooped up by filtered "dust buckets" flown on planes or balloons.
NASA does a lot of this, and Ron Baalke has posted on this work a number of
times.
    You will notice that the places where you can find extraterrestial dust
are essentially quiet spots where it can settle and accumulate undisturbed.
Most of the land surface of the Earth is too hectic.

Sterling K. Webb
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Tom aka James Knudson wrote:

> Hello List, Scientists are now thinking that mars is red from meteorite
> dust, right? They also say tons of meteorite dust are landing on earth,
> right?
> I was wondering if the black iron stuff we get on our magnets when we
> drag them through the dirt could me meteorite related?
> Thanks, Tom
> Peregrineflier <><
> The proudest member of the IMCA 6168
>
> _
Received on Tue 16 Sep 2003 08:35:46 PM PDT