In Antarctica found five preserved meteorites that lay there for thousands of years

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During a recent expedition to Antarctica, researchers discovered five meteorites, the most interesting of which weighs about 8 kilograms. It is assumed that they spent under the snow and ice for thousands of years. This is reported by Live Science.

Discovery on the surface of Niels Larsen's blue ice zone near the Belgian Antarctic station “Princess Elisabeth”. Among the five meteorites, one stood out in particular the size of a melon and weighing 7.6 kilograms – it is one of the heaviest meteorites ever found in Antarctica. Of the 45,000 meteorites found in Antarctica, only about 100 had the same weight.

“Size doesn’t necessarily matter when it comes to meteorites. Even tiny micrometeorites can be incredibly valuable scientifically. But, of course, to find such a large meteorite as this – very rare”, – says Maria Valdez, one of the expedition members who found the meteorites.

Meteorites originating from the asteroid belt were found on the surface of the ice in January, but they fell to Earth a long time ago. The space rocks were probably buried in ice for tens of thousands of years and only surfaced after glacier movement brought them back to the surface.

But because the meteorites were protected from precipitation, wind and air under the ice, they remained completely unharmed, the researchers said.
The researchers were able to narrow their search thanks to a study published in the journal Science Advances that used satellite data and artificial intelligence. The latter identified parts of Antarctica where meteorite accumulations are more likely to be brought to the surface. It was in one of these hotspots that meteorites were discovered.

Meteorite samples collected during the expedition were sent to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels for proper thawing and analysis, but each expedition scientist also took samples of potential meteorite dust they collected around space rocks for their own research.

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