Two extraterrestrial dust horizons found in Dome Fuji ice core, East Antarctica

Abstract

Two silicate-rich dust layers, lie respectively at Marine Isotope Stages 12 and 13, were found in Dome Fuji ice cores in East Antarctica. Morphologies, textures, and chemical compositions of constituent particles reveal that they are high-temperature melting products and are of extraterrestrial origin. The two extraterrestrial horizons, each a few millimeters in thickness, represent regional or global meteoritic/cometary events not identified previously in the Southern Hemisphere. These findings will be help to understand the nature of accreted materials to Earth, the flux of extraterrestrial materials at the Earth's surface, and regional climate changes which triggered by large impact explosions on polar ice sheets or by fallout of huge amounts of extraterrestrial dust particles on polar ice.