ANTARCTIC METEORITE LOCATION AND MAPPING PROJECT (AMLAMP)
EXPLANATORY TEXT

Derrick Peak (80º04'S 156º23'E) is situated overlooking the Hatherton Glacier in the Darwin Mountains (Darwin-Byrd-Figure 1 (92 KB JPEG). In December 1978, a geological field party from New Zealand happened upon six iron meteorite specimens scattered across the rocky hill side of the northeast spur of Derrick Peak. DRP42-Figure 1 (66 KB JPEG) is a portion of the U.S.G.S. 1:250000 Mount Olympus quadrangle of the Derrick Peak vicinity. Subsequent searches by an ANSMET field party and others yielded another 10 specimens (Shiraishi, 1979; Kamp and Lowe, 1982; Marvin, 1982). During the 1987-1988 season a New Zealand expedition was again conducting geological studies in the Darwin Peak vicinity (Kirkbride et al., 1991). Another 8 specimens were recovered from the original find site on the flank of the ridge. One additional specimen was found 6 kilometers southward of the original area of finds, thus expanding the known target area. During the 2000-2001 season ANSMET members spent two days walking over the area of the main concentration. Two additional specimens were discovered. DRP42-Figure 1 also indicates, as best can be determined from existing data, the general locations of the finds.

These irons, now numbering 27, are all part of a single shower that appears to be in situ. DRP42-Figure 2 (66 KB JPEG) also shows the distribution of specimens found during the 1978-1979 and 1988-1989 seasons (Adapted from Sharaishi, 1979 and Kamp and Lowe, 1982). DRP42-Figure 3 (102 KB JPEG) is another attempt at depicting the locations of the meteorites on a Landsat satellite image.

The 12 specimens recovered by ANSMET are curated by the U.S. and Japanese curatorial facilities and range in size from 130 grams to 138 kilograms (Clark, 1982). The remaining specimens are curated in New Zealand.

Acknowledgments; The 1978-1979 ANSMET field party members were Dean Clauter, Ursula Marvin, and Kazuyuki Shiraishi. Michael Selby of Waikato University led the New Zealand geological field team which made the original discovery and alerted the ANSMET team. The members of the 2000-2001 field party included Ben Bussey, Jeff Byrnes, Ralph Harvey, Larry Nittler, Jamie Pierce, and Sara Russell.

Traverse to the Derrick Peak Meteorite Listing (71 KB with meteorite photo - Last updated 4/22/2005)

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