MICROMETEORITES IN THE DUST COLLECTED ON КOZUF MOUNTAIN (REPUBLIUC OF NORTH MACEDONIA)

Abstract

About 40,000 tons of space-derived material fall to Earth every year. The largest part of this interplanetary dust is the result of the collision of meteorites from the meteorite belt or from the melting of ice from bodies in the Solar System.

These interplanetary dust particles collide with the Earth's atmosphere, are further fragmented and fall to Earth as micrometeorites, measuring less than 2 mm. Significant amounts of micrometeorites have been found in deep sea sediments, on snow-capped mountains and in the ice of the polar regions.

This paper presents the investigations using the SEM-EDS technique on dust collected on Kozhuf Mountain. From the tests carried out, it can be concluded that in the collected dust two grains were found that have the shape of a micrometeorite, while the chemical analysis shows a composition that corresponds to the composition of some micrometeorites.