Abstract
Within a given crystal grain inside a meteorite being eroded by collisions in interplanetary space, the production rate of tracks of heavy cosmic-ray nuclei increases with time. The results of calculations of track production rates and track densities as a function of depth, meteorite radius, and erosion rate are presented. Heavy cosmic-ray track densities in samples from the present surface of the Patwar stony-iron meteorite have been measured and are used, together with the calculations, to set an upper limit of ∼10−7 cm/yr on the space erosion rate of this meteorite and to deduce that its pre-atmospheric radius was between 14 and 16.5 cm, compared with the post-atmospheric radius of 13 cm. Over a large portion of the meteorite the maximum thickness of material ablated during atmospheric entry was ∼1.4 cm.
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