ABSTRACT
With the aid of thermomagnetic analysis (TMA) up to 800ºС the composition and distribution of particles of native iron and Fe-Ni alloy was studied in 15 sections, Gams (Austria), Verhorechie and Selbuhra (Crimea), Kvirinaki and Tetritskaro (Georgia), Aimaki, Bass, Dzhengutaj, Madzhalis and Gergebil (North Caucasus, Russia), Klyuchi and Tep-lovka (Volga Region, Russia), Koshak (Kazakhstan), Kara-Kala and Khalats (Turkmenistan). The age of sediments varies from Miocene to Early Cretaceous. Iron particles are present at 521samples out of 921studied. Their percentage varies from 10-5% to 0.05%. The distribution consists of two groups: 1) “zero” group (iron is not found by TMA); 2) group of logarithmic normal distribution with a differing modes. The global enrichment by iron particles in synchronous deposits of Miocene, Maastrichtian-Danian, Santonian and Cenomanian was discovered. With respect to nickel content, the iron particles fall into two groups: 1) nearly pure iron without nickel; and 2) iron with nickel content up to 20%, with modal value of 5%. The source of iron particles is the cosmic dust. Particles of pure nickel and the alloy containing more of 20% of nickel are very rare. Possibly, such particles are related mainly with impact events. A peak of elevated iron content with nearly constant nickel of 5-6% was found in almost all studied sections. It is a global effect which is not dependent of place and time of deposition of iron particles.