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ramriot t1_ja7038b wrote

So first contrast, most meteorites are dark & snow/ice is white. Second climate, it's cold & dry there so weathering takes a long time. Third disturbance, there are very few things including humans to disturb a meteorites position.

But most importantly is that ice there flows over time down hill & near natural obstructions it pushes up into pressure ridges that ablate over time in the wind. This has the effect of concentrating any meteorites that fell into an area near the obstruction.

So researchers will search areas of sloping topography near an obstruction (rock outcrop) to get the best chance of recovering meteorites that fell anything up to perhaps a couple of hundred thousand years ago.

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