Abstract
Meteorite accumulation sites offer the unique prospect of observing changes in this portion of the extraterrestrial flux over time. However, the main problem has been calculating a weathering decay constant for samples in an area. Using a comparison of meteorite terrestrial age (the time since the sample landed) and weathering data, it is possible to constrain decay constants for hot desert meteorite populations (where meteorites may survive for up to 50 kyr). This, together with the number and mass distribution of paired meteorites in each region allows an estimate of the number of meteorite falls over a given mass per year: between 36 and 116 falls over 10 g per 106 km2 yr−1. In addition, the total mass flux to the Earth’s surface over the 10 g-1 kg inter- val is constrained to between 2900 and 7300 kg yr−1. The agreement in flux estimates from different accumulation sites, and with the estimate of the present flux made from Canadian camera network data, is remarkable, suggesting that the flux of meteorites to the Earth has remained essentially constant over the last 50 kyr.
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