Earth Sciences 1086F/G Lecture Notes - Kinetic Energy, Enstatite, Cosmic Dust
Document Summary
2 categories of meteorites: find something that you find randomly, fall meteorite falling to earth was witnessed. Names for meteorites must be approved by nomenclature committee of meteoritical. Easiest ones: irons, stony-irons, stones (mineral content: irons iron & nickel (siderites, stony-iron 50/50 iron/nickel & silicate/oxide (siderolites, stones silicate/oxide (aerolites) Meteorites give us a taste of what the parent. Condensed from hot cloud of gas/dust through flash melting of dust aggregates: carbonaceous matter. Just means building blocks for earth out there somewhere too. Igneous rock crystallized lava: if made of this: achondrites, residual rock material left behind, if made of this: primitive achondrites. Meteors: interplanetary dust particles smallest meteoroids. Made of silicate (ie. rock) sources (2: asteroids asteroid belt, comets they leave dust trails, showers meteors that travel together in the same direction, ex. Made the great leonids shower: pegasus and iras. Found colliding asteroids make space dust: carbon-rich silicates like primitive stony meteorites, dust also in ocean floor.