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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

The scarcity of iron meteorites found in Antarctica may be due to the rocks being heated by the Sun and buried beneath the surface of the ice [bbc.com]:

New research suggests there could be a layer of iron-rich meteorites hidden just under the Antarctic ice. The churning of glaciers spews many space rocks out on to the surface in Antarctica, but compared to elsewhere on Earth, few of them are made of iron. Based on modelling and lab experiments, scientists say the missing metallic rocks might be burying themselves, by melting the ice as sunlight heats them.

To prove their idea, the team now wants to look for the rocks themselves. "The study is proposing a hypothesis - these samples should be there. We just have to go and locate them," said Dr Katherine Joy from the University of Manchester, a co-author of the paper published in Nature Communications [nature.com] [DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10679].

Antarctica is known by meteorite specialists as a fruitful hunting ground, because the rocks are collected from their landing sites by glacial flows and transported to concentrated dumping-grounds. [...] Among this Antarctic haul, however, researchers have noticed that iron-rich meteorites - whether partly or wholly made of the metal - are surprisingly scarce, compared to the percentage collected in other places around the world. Dr Joy and her colleagues think they may have discovered why.

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