Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Elemental Composition Of Stony Cosmic Spherules, D. E. Brownlee, Beeway Bates, L. Schramm

SIAS Faculty Publications

Five hundred stony cosmic spherules collected from deep-sea sediments, polar ice, and the stratosphere have been analyzed for major and some minor element composition. Typical spherules are products of atmospheric melting of millimeter sized and smaller meteoroids. The samples are small and modified by atmospheric entry, but they are an important source of information on the composition of asteroids. The spherules in this study were all analyzed in an identical Manner, and they provide a sampling of the solar system's asteroids that is both different and less biased than provided by studies of conventional meteorites. Volatile elements such as Na …