Abstract:

The concentrations of 13 elements in the metal of 52 Antarctic irons have been reported and these irons have been classified based on the structures and their Ga,Ge, Ni, Ir and other trace elemental contents. The 52 iron meteorites assigned to chemical group consist of 16 of ⅠAB,12 of ⅡAB, 1 of ⅡE, 3 of ⅢAB, 1 of ⅢCD, 1 of ⅣA and 18 of ungrouped irons. The ⅠAB, ⅢCD and ⅡE iron meteorite groups areconsidered to be of nonmagmatic origin. Nonmagmatic ⅠAB, ⅢCD and ⅡE ironsformed as individual pools of a chondritic body. The other groups, ⅡAB, ⅢAB andⅣA show the evidences of having originated by fractional crystallization of a metallicmagma. The slopes on element-Ni trends in the magmatic are generally higher than inthe nonmagmatic groups. Most interestings are the high abundance Of ungrouped andⅠAB (47.2% and 27.8%,respectively) and low abundance of ⅢAB (5.8%). Antarctic irons of the group abundances can be distinguished from non-Antarctic irons, which provide the information about previously unsampled parent planets, mass, shockand collision,as well as nebula regions.

Key words: Antarctica, Antarctic meteorites, iron meteorites, classification of iron meteorites