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

Abstract

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.