The Massalia asteroid family as the origin of ordinary L chondrites

Abstract

Studies of micrometeorites in mid-Ordovician limestones and impact craters on Earth indicate that our planet witnessed a massive infall of ordinary L chondrite material about 466 million years ago^1-3 that may have been at the origin of an Ordovician ice age and major turnover in biodiversity⁴. The breakup of a large asteroid in the main belt is the likely cause of this massive infall. Currently, material originating from this breakup still dominates meteorite falls (>20% of all falls)⁵. Here we provide spectroscopic observations and dynamical evidence that the Massalia collisional family is the only plausible source of this catastrophic event and the most abundant class of meteorites falling on Earth today. This family of asteroids is suitably located in the inner belt, at low-inclination orbits, which corresponds to the observed distribution of L-chondrite-like near-Earth objects and interplanetary dust concentrated at 1.4° (refs. ^6,7).