Sites of Antarctic Meteorite Finds 
of the earth is sparsely populated and 
recovery is difficult in forested or 
rocky terrain, the recovery rate is only 
about ten per year. Statistically, over 
a period of a million years, there 
should be one meteorite in each square 
kilometer. But in the Antarctic, areas 
of concentration, containing many 
more meteorites than statistically pre- 
dicted, are found. The Antarctic ice- 
cap evidently functions as a collecting 
and concentrating medium. 
What peculiar features of the Ant- 
arctic continent produce these unique 
concentrations of meteorites? The ice- 
cap has existed for millions of years 
— possibly since the Miocene, some 
twenty million years ago. Meteorites 
have fallen on the icecap throughout 
this period and have been buried in 
the ice, which moves slowly toward 
the coast. Much of the ice eventually 
reaches the coast and either melts or 
drifts away in the form of icebergs. 
In some places, however, the ice flow 
is blocked by mountain ranges. The 
ice stagnates and is slowly removed 
by ablation, that is, by evaporation 
and wind erosion, but is constantly 
replaced by newer ice from the in- 
terior. Solid objects within the ice, 
the meteorites for example, will re- 
main on the surface and accumulate 
as a unique form of “lag gravel.” It 
should be realized that much of Ant- 
arctica is ess'entially a dry desert, in 
which ablation greatly exceeds the ac- 
cumulation of new snow. 
This scenario accounts for the areas 
of meteorite concentration in associ- 
ation with mountain ranges that block 
the flow of the inland ice. If the Ant- 
arctic icecap has existed for twenty 
Expedition 
Meteorites 
Date 
Area Investigated 
Found 
Mawson (Australian) 
1912 
Adelie Land 
1 
Lazarev (Russian) 
1961 
Lazarev Base 
1 
U.S. Geological Survey 
1962 
Thiel Mountains 
1 
1964 
Neptune Mountains 
1 
Japanese 
1969 
Yamato Mountains 
9 
1973 
12 
1974 
663 
1975-76 
307 
1979-80 
Approx. 3000 
Joint United States-Japanese 
1976 
Mount Baldr 
2 
1977 
Allan Hills 
9 
1977-78 
307 
1978-79 
Darwin Glacier 
47 
Allan Hills 
267 
New Zealand 
1978-79 
Reckling Peak 
5 
Darwin Glacier 
6 
United States 
1978 
Purgatory Peak 
1 
1979-80 
Allan Hills 
54 
Reckling Peak 
15 
Elephant Moraine 
11 
64 
