Scientists have uncovered that over 70 percent of meteorites reaching Earth come from just three asteroid families in the asteroid belt.
Until recently, scientists knew the origins of only about six percent of the meteorites reaching Earth. They pinpointed three locations where the meteoric material originated.
“While more than 70,000 meteorites are known, only 6% had been clearly identified by their composition (achondrites) as coming from the Moon, Mars, or Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in the main belt,” said the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in a statement.
The origins of the other 94 percent of meteorites reaching Earth remained unknown until an international team of experts released three studies in the Astronomy and Astrophysics and Nature journals in September and October 2024. The three asteroid families located in the asteroid belt, which is between Mars and Jupiter, are the Karin, Koronis, and Massalia families.
Finding the origins of the meteorites reaching Earth
“It’s absolutely like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow for a meteoriticist to know what asteroid the samples come from,” Sara Russell, a planetary scientist at London’s Natural History Museum, told Science News.
The international team of experts found the asteroid families from which the meteorites reaching Earth originated by studying asteroid simulations and the composition of the meteoric material that has fallen through Earth’s atmosphere.
“All point at the same thing. There’s no doubt,” said Michaël Marsset, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, Chile and an author of both studies, in speaking about the origins of the meteoric material.
The asteroid families are relatively young, formed by collisions that happened 40 million years ago. While that may seem like a long time, it’s a mere blink of an eye compared to the amount of time the universe has existed.
“All known meteorite falls originate from three young asteroid families (Karin, Koronis and Massalia) formed by collisions in the main asteroid belt 5.8, 7.5, and about 40 million years ago,” said CNRS in a statement.
While the three asteroid families are responsible for most meteorites reaching Earth, one family is responsible for many more meteoric material compared to the others.
“In particular, the Massalia family has been identified as the source of 37% of known meteorites,” said CNRS in a statement.
It makes sense that most meteorites reaching Earth are from young asteroid families. According to the CNRS, young asteroid families are known for having “an abundance of small fragments left over from collisions.” As those fragments move around from collisions, they continue crashing into one another and are more prone to escaping the asteroid belt and entering Earth’s atmosphere.
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