Cosmic Dust in Suzhou A-Type Granite

A large number of microspherules have been extracted from Suzhou A-type granite bymeans of heavy placer.Both natural surfaces and part sections of 539 microspherules have been observed bySEM.457 microspherules have been determined by EDX,with some of them by EPMA,XRD and INAA.The results suggest these spherules are of ablated cosmic dust.Among them silicate glassy microspheruleshave been highly enriched in REE and other lithophile refractory trace elements,and REE abundance patternfavors a meteoritic origin as a roughly flat distribution.Ringwoodite has been first found in these glassy mi-crospherules.The composition of these iron spherules is similar to those of the ablated cosmic dust from deepsea and polar ice.Some Fe-Ni spherules and spherules composed of troilite have also been found.This isprobably the first report on various types of cosmic dust extracted from granite.