Chondritic micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains

On the basis of morphological and petrographic characteristics, eight “giant” unmelted micrometeorites in the 300-1100 μm size range were selected from the Transantarctic Mountain micrometeorite collection, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Mineralogical and geochemical data obtained by means of scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalyses, and synchrotron X-ray diffraction allow their classification as chondritic micrometeorites. The large size of the micrometeorites increases considerably the amount of mineralogical and geochemical information compared to micrometeorites in smaller size fractions, therefore allowing a better definition of their parent material. A large variety of material is observed: five micrometeorites are related to unequilibrated and equilibrated ordinary chondrite, one to CV chondrite, one to CM chondrite, and one to CI chondrite parent materials. Besides reporting the first occurrence of a CV-like micrometeorite, our study shows that the abundance of chondritic material supports observations from recent studies on cosmic spherules that a large part of the micrometeorite flux in this size range is of asteroidal origin.