Description and terrestrial ages of the Calama Area Meteorite Collection (Atacama Desert, Chile)
Abstract
We present a comprehensive study of a meteorite collection from the Atacama Desert (Chile), the driest and most climatically stable desert in the world. This collection includes meteorites from three adjacent Dense Collection Areas (DCAs) in the northern part of the Atacama Desert: Calama, Sierra Gorda, and Chug Chug, referred to as the “Calama area.” Within this region (~550 km 2 ), we conducted a systematic search over a 2.5 km 2 zone in the Calama DCA and compared the resulting density to the nonsystematic recovery density in the Calama area. We also present the 36 Cl‐based terrestrial ages of 49 ordinary chondrites selected from the Calama area. The systematic search yielded a meteorite recovery density of 38 meteorites per km 2 (15 meteorites per km 2 for meteorites >20 g), and the collection exhibits a median terrestrial age of 303 ka. Notably, compared with the El Médano and Catalina DCAs, the Calama area is characterized by a lower meteorite density and younger meteorite terrestrial ages, most likely reflecting the region's more humid climate and more dynamic geomorphology due to its proximity to the pre‐Andean range. Our results further show that meteorite weathering is not correlated with terrestrial age but is instead essentially controlled by the initial porosity of the meteorite, itself related to shock stage. Nevertheless, the Calama area still exhibits higher densities and older terrestrial ages than any other hot desert in the world, confirming that the long‐term preservation of meteorites is observed across the entire Atacama Desert.
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BibTeX
@article{sadaka2026description,
title = {{Description and terrestrial ages of the Calama Area Meteorite Collection (Atacama Desert, Chile)}},
author = {Carine Sadaka and Jérôme Gattacceca and Florian Dumas and Régis Braucher and Matthieu Gounelle and Dilyara Kuzina and Cyril Lorenz and Alexandre Corgne and Pierre Sempéré},
journal = {Meteoritics and Planetary Science},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1111/maps.70219},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05841756v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Description and terrestrial ages of the Calama Area Meteorite Collection (Atacama Desert, Chile)
AU - Carine Sadaka
AU - Jérôme Gattacceca
AU - Florian Dumas
AU - Régis Braucher
AU - Matthieu Gounelle
AU - Dilyara Kuzina
AU - Cyril Lorenz
AU - Alexandre Corgne
AU - Pierre Sempéré
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/10
JO - Meteoritics and Planetary Science
DO - 10.1111/maps.70219
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05841756v1
AB - We present a comprehensive study of a meteorite collection from the Atacama Desert (Chile), the driest and most climatically stable desert in the world. This collection includes meteorites from three adjacent Dense Collection Areas (DCAs) in the northern part of the Atacama Desert: Calama, Sierra Gorda, and Chug Chug, referred to as the “Calama area.” Within this region (~550 km 2 ), we conducted a systematic search over a 2.5 km 2 zone in the Calama DCA and compared the resulting density to the nonsystematic recovery density in the Calama area. We also present the 36 Cl‐based terrestrial ages of 49 ordinary chondrites selected from the Calama area. The systematic search yielded a meteorite recovery density of 38 meteorites per km 2 (15 meteorites per km 2 for meteorites >20 g), and the collection exhibits a median terrestrial age of 303 ka. Notably, compared with the El Médano and Catalina DCAs, the Calama area is characterized by a lower meteorite density and younger meteorite terrestrial ages, most likely reflecting the region's more humid climate and more dynamic geomorphology due to its proximity to the pre‐Andean range. Our results further show that meteorite weathering is not correlated with terrestrial age but is instead essentially controlled by the initial porosity of the meteorite, itself related to shock stage. Nevertheless, the Calama area still exhibits higher densities and older terrestrial ages than any other hot desert in the world, confirming that the long‐term preservation of meteorites is observed across the entire Atacama Desert.
SN - 1086-9379
SN - 1945-5100
ER -