Are the magnetic elements of meteorites that have struck Earth aligned with the magnetic field?

Question

I was just pondering this question; do meteorites containing significant magnetic metal elements displace paleomagnetism the same way that magnetic striping on the ocean floor occurs? When the meteorites pass through the atmosphere do they actually get hot enough to go beyond the curie point of any metal-bearing minerals that are within and then subsequently align with the magnetic field as they cool back down?

If so; I assume that would that be indicative of the Earth having an inner liquid core producing a magnetic field or could something else be the contributing factor to the alignment?

Answer 1

The surface of 'iron' meteorites certainly gets hot enough to exceed the curie temperature, hence the characteristic ablation texture that you see on meteorites in museums. However, that's a surface feature, and wouldn't affect the interior of all but the smallest of meteorites. The tumbling passage through the atmosphere for just a few seconds, coupled with the shock of impact when it landed is such that there wouldn't be any clear magnetic signature of anything within the outer skin of the meteorite.

In large meteorites, consisting of solid Ni-Fe, the residual magnetism seems to reflect the magnetic field of that part of the solar system from whence they came. Other meteorites contain fragmentary components of varying magnetic orientation, also, (presumably) related to magnetic fields within the early history of the solar system.