Petrography and mineral chemistry of 49 equilibrated ordinary chondrites from the Atacama Desert, Chile

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile, South America, offers optimal conditions for meteorite accumulation due to its persistent hyper-arid climate, which has remained stable for approximately 25 million years [Dunai et al., 2005]. This unique environment has led to exceptionally high meteorite densi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Rodríguez Santiago, Alberto, Llorca Piqué, Jordi, Sánchez Pastor, Nuria
Format: article
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/121450
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/121450
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:552.6
Meteorites
Chondrites
Shock Degree
Atacama Desert
Petrología
Mineralogía (Geología)
2506.13 Petrología Ignea y Metamórfica
2506.11 Mineralogía
Description
Summary:The Atacama Desert in northern Chile, South America, offers optimal conditions for meteorite accumulation due to its persistent hyper-arid climate, which has remained stable for approximately 25 million years [Dunai et al., 2005]. This unique environment has led to exceptionally high meteorite densities per square kilometer and the discovery of meteorite populations with terrestrial ages averaging 710,000 years [Hutzler et al., 2016, Drouard et al., 2019]. Since 2017, numerous international expeditions, alongside a few Chilean efforts, have actively searched for meteorites in the region. However, a key challenge faced by Chilean meteoritic researchers is the lack of access to microprobe laboratories, essential for the precise classification and analysis of meteorite samples.