Traces of Meteorites & Sonic Boom & # 39; found in the ocean

The first mission designed to chase a meteorite that crashed into the ocean has now discovered what could be tiny fragments of the meteoritic crust, say the researchers

On March 7, three Weather stations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detected the fall of a meteorite about 25 km from the coast of Washington State. "The fall has been widely seen around local areas and widely heard around local areas – it has come with loud sound bangs," said Marc Fries, the conservator of cosmic dust for NASA,

. lb (2,000 kilograms) of meteorites. He also calculated that the largest meteorite could weigh about 9.7 lbs. (4.4 kg) and have a diameter of about 5 inches (12 centimeters). [Crash! The 10 Biggest Impact Craters on Earth]

"It's the biggest meteorite fall I've seen in more than 20 years of radar data," said Fries.

The details of the scientists on the fall suggest that the meteorite was unusually strong. . This knowledge, combined with the fact that the meteorite landed on a soft sea bottom as opposed to the dry land, suggested that this oceanic fall could provide large relatively intact meteorites for scientists.

Until now, scientists had never intentionally recovered a meteorite from the ocean, Fries said. In the past, researchers had accidentally discovered some meteorites from drill samples taken from the seabed, he noted. However, this latest venture is the "first intentional search for meteorites from the ocean," says Fries.

The Ocean Exploration Trust, a non-profit scientific organization, worked with scientists from the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary on the Olympic Coast. On July 1, the Nautilus exploration vessel surveyed about 0.4 square miles of water in the National Marine Sanctuary of the Olympic Coast, located off the coast of Washington State. 330 feet (100 meters) above the seabed. The ship used a multibeam sonar to map the seafloor, but the team "did not really see the signature of a meteorite, no change in seafloor texture," Nicole Raineault, Expedition Leader and Vice President On July 2, scientists deployed two remotely operated submarines – the Hercules and the Argus – to study the seabed. If the researchers saw something interesting through the cameras of these unmanned vehicles, they ordered the robots to pick them up with the help of magnets or a suction pump.

Researchers have not spotted "And, in all likelihood, meteorites have sank in the bottom of the sea. "However, after returning to the lab and spending six hours badyzing the sediments, the team identified what appeared to be a meteorite. to be fragments of meteorites in the last sample that they had collected, said Fries. "Until now, we see two small fragments," he said.

"Meteorite fragments are small pieces of molten rock," said Fries. From about 2 to 3 millimeters [0.08 to 0.12 inches] they likely came from "the outside of a meteorite." When a meteor enters the atmosphere, there is what? it's called a melting crust – "you have the instant melting of the rock, which overlays" The reason Fries thinks these fragments come from the recent fall of the meteorites is that they are "basically made of glbad, and these flashy glbady materials do not tend to last long in seawater. " In addition, these fragments "appeared to come from a small pit in the bottom of the sea," says Fries. "It's a proof that they come from something that has fallen."

Now, Fries and his colleagues will badyze these fragments in the lab. "If they are of meteoric origin, we can tell what kind of meteorite they come from," he said.

Other fragments of smaller meteorites can hide in the sediments that the researchers collected. treat naked spots at the eye, "said Fries.

It is not planned to return to the site to get more fragments of meteorites, but, says Fries, "I certainly would not mind going there.

Originally published on [19659021] Science Live .