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A micrometeorite record in Ordovician Durness Group limestones, Isle of Skye

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2016

John Parnell ,
Natalie Salter  and
Peter West
John Parnell
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK. Email: [email protected]
Natalie Salter
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK. Email: [email protected]
Peter West
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Samples of mid-Ordovician Durness Group limestone from Skye yield micrometeorites in the magnetic fraction after dissolution in acid. The micrometeorites are concentrated in the upper part of the sequence, in the Arenig Balnakeil and Croisaphuill formations. This finding is consistent with their stratigraphic distribution determined previously in the Durness district. A single sample of contemporaneous limestones from the Highland Border Fault Zone also yielded a micrometeorite. These observations suggest an elevated flux of meteoritic matter, shortly before the greatest concentration of meteorites in the geological record in the mid-Ordovician of Sweden.

Keywords

Arenigcosmic spherulemeteoritemeteoritic fluxScotland
Type
Articles
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 106 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 81 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Society of Edinburgh 2016 

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