Where are meteorites found?

Meteorites fall all over the Earth, but they are much easier to find in some places than others.

They land everywhere

Meteorites land all over our planet, on mountains, cities, farms and forests. But about seven tenths of Earth's surface is covered by oceans, so most meteorites splash into the sea and are never seen again.

On land, many meteorites fall into thick forests, jungles, swamps or fields, where they are hidden among plants and soil. In wet places, rain also makes them rust and crumble over time. In a country like Britain, a meteorite lying in a field would soon look like any other dark stone.

That is why most meteorites are found in places where there are hardly any other rocks to confuse them with, and where the weather is very dry. Searching for a single small stone in a green, rainy landscape is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Hot deserts

Some of the best meteorite hunting grounds are hot deserts, such as the Sahara in Africa, deserts in Oman, and the Atacama Desert in Chile. Deserts have very little rain, so meteorites rust slowly and can survive for thousands of years. In some areas, the ground is flat and covered in pale sand or small light-coloured stones, so a dark meteorite stands out clearly.

Thousands of meteorites have been found in North Africa. Many of them are given names starting with NWA, which stands for Northwest Africa.

Hunting in deserts is hard work. It means walking for hours in the heat, and it needs proper planning, water and permission, because each country has its own rules. Some desert meteorites have lain on the surface for tens of thousands of years.

Antarctica: the best place of all

The richest meteorite hunting ground on Earth is Antarctica, the frozen continent at the South Pole. Dark meteorites are easy to see against white snow and blue ice.

There is also a clever natural trick. Meteorites that fall onto the ice sheet get buried and carried along slowly as the ice flows. In some places the ice is pushed up against mountains, and strong, dry winds wear the surface away. The meteorites are brought back up to the surface and gathered in the same areas, a bit like a giant conveyor belt.

Scientific teams from countries including the USA, Japan, China and several European countries have collected tens of thousands of meteorites in Antarctica. Only scientific expeditions are allowed to collect them there.

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