[meteorite-list] How many are there

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:31:34 -0700
Message-ID: <064401c874d9$8a6e7880$0a01a8c0_at_bellatrix>

> My question is, how many meteories can we expect if we count in all
> the small ones down to 1 gram in the total. If the statistics hold for
> meteorites as in many other things, the amount will significantly
> increase the smaller the stones are.

Maybe not as much as you would expect, given that meteorites have a
terrestrial lifetime due to weathering, and small stones weather much
faster. So you need to consider the balance between what falls (which
likely follows some sort of power law with respect to size), and how
fast it rots away (also following a power law).

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Lasse Lindh" <3l at comhem.se>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 3:22 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] How many are there


> Hi all
>
> There is one question that I have tried to find answer to and that is:
> How many meteorites are there waiting to be found? Iv'e asked this
> question in other forums but never got a straight answer. Probably
> because no one knows.. ;o) Thats understandable. But purely
> theoretical. How many meteorites fell to earth each year? One number
> that is mentioned is that it's estimated that some 5-6000 meteorites
> over 100 gram or 80.000 meteorites over 10 gram do fell each year over
> the whole Earth. That's a significant number, but spread out over the
> whole planet, it's very little per square mile.
>
> Wilson made a search on 4 square miles sometime in the 50:ies. He
> found 159 meteorites. I do not know how he performed this search, but
> I reckon he used metal detectors and magnets that were very much
> inferior with todays. He might not even have bothered to search below
> the surface for small ones and only took the ones he saw and those
> that were detected by his MD, if he was usinf one.
> If we were to do the same search today in the same area, with the best
> tools that we got, I wonder how many additional meteories that we
> would find?
>
> My question is, how many meteories can we expect if we count in all
> the small ones down to 1 gram in the total. If the statistics hold for
> meteorites as in many other things, the amount will significantly
> increase the smaller the stones are.
>
> This is an interesting question especially for us that does not live
> in a dry desert area or have the means or money to travel there a few
> times each year. If that number is high enough, it might be worth
> while to search with magnets in an area were meteories never get to be
> older than maybe 500 years...
>
> regards
>
> Lasse
Received on Thu 21 Feb 2008 05:31:34 PM PST