Probing the nature of extraterrestrial dust reaching the Earth’s surface collected from the Maitri station, Antarctica

Micrometeorites (MMs) are extraterrestrial dust particles, in the size range of tens of µm to mm, recovered from the Earth’s surface primarily from deep‐sea sediments, Antarctica, and also from space. The present collection of MMs (>50 µm) obtained by melting ~50 t of ice near the Maitri station, Antarctica, has allowed us to investigate the abundance and properties of the particles by an unbiased collection technique. The collection reveals a large quantity of extraterrestrial material in the ~80−140 µm size range. Previous collections have shown an abundance of particles at diameter ~200 µm, which is in contrast to our findings. This can either be explained by movement of material within the ice or a recent influx of smaller particles. The smaller particles (