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Chondrule-like object from the Indian Ocean cosmic spherules

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Five hundred and eighteen cosmic spherules were identified among the 672 spherules handpicked from deep sea sediments by using Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM-EDS). One of the spherules is found to enclose a spherical chondrule-like object that can be distinguished from the rest of the spherule by its shape, texture and composition and whose petrographic features, size and chemical composition are similar to chondrules from a chondritic meteorite, probably of carbonaceous chondritic nature. The present finding suggests that a small fraction of the particulate extraterrestrial matter enters the earth as fragments of larger meteorites.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Director, NIO, Goa for the support and encouragement for this work. They express their gratitude to Mr. Vijay Khedekar for his technical support during SEM and EPMA work. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System. They are also grateful to the reviewer for the valuable comments and suggestions which helped to improve the manuscript. This project is funded by ISRO–PRL, Ahmadabad under the PLANEX program. This is NIO’s contribution no. 5313.

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  1. National Institute of Oceanography (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), Dona Paula, Goa, 403 004, India

    K RESHMA, N G RUDRASWAMI & M SHYAM PRASAD

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RESHMA, K., RUDRASWAMI, N.G. & SHYAM PRASAD, M. Chondrule-like object from the Indian Ocean cosmic spherules. J Earth Syst Sci 122, 1161–1171 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0333-8

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