A micrometeorite record in Ordovician Durness Group limestones, Isle of Skye

Abstract

Samples of mid-Ordovician Durness Group limestone from Skye yield micrometeorites in the magnetic fraction after dissolution in acid. The micrometeorites are concentrated in the upper part of the sequence, in the Arenig Balnakeil and Croisaphuill formations. This finding is consistent with their stratigraphic distribution determined previously in the Durness district. A single sample of contemporaneous limestones from the Highland Border Fault Zone also yielded a micrometeorite. These observations suggest an elevated flux of meteoritic matter, shortly before the greatest concentration of meteorites in the geological record in the mid-Ordovician of Sweden.