南極隕石の発見とその研究システム  [in Japanese] Discoveries and the system of study of Antarctic meteorites  [in Japanese]

Meteorites are very unique and important materials in which abundant information concerning the oldest solar system is available for research, and they provide a wide range of parent bodies, both some primitive and differential. Meteorites also yield very useful data concerning the genesis, evolution, and composition of the planets, satellites, asteroid and comets. Before the find of the Antarctic meteorites, only about 2,000 different meteorites were known worldwide, and about 10 new meteorites were recevered annually. During the past fourteen field seasons, over 6,000 meteorite specimens have been collected in Antarctica mostly by Japan and the joint Japan-United States teams. Over eighty percent of them were collected by the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE). Before 1969, only six meteorites specimens had them discovered on the entire Antarctic continent. A search for meteorites in the continent was initiated as a result of the accidental discovery in December 1969 of the first meteorite (subsequently named Yamato Meteorites) on the bare ice near the Yamato Mountains, about 300 km southwest of Syowa Station, by JARE team. Then JARE team collected meteorites in most of the region of the Yamato Mountains, East Antarctica as a part of the overall field program of the Japan National Institute of Polar Research, collecting a total of 5,500 specimens (including over 600 specimens collected by the joint Japan-U.S. teams) during field season from 1969 to 1983. Japan-led teams of the joint Japan-U.S. team have collected over 600 specimens on the bare ice area in Victoria Land, north of McMurdo Station, during 1976-1979. Now, about 5,500 specimens of Japanese collection of Antarctic meteorites has initiated active the research work on space sciences including meteorite studies in Japan, and it is expected to become increasingly active in the future.