This geographical area serves as a collection point for meteorites that have originally fallen on the extensive high-altitude ice fields throughout Antarctica.

Such meteorites are quickly covered by subsequent snowfall and begin a centuries-long journey traveling "downhill" across the Antarctic continent while embedded in a vast sheet of flowing ice.

Subsequent wind erosion of the motionless ice brings trapped meteorites back to the surface once more where they may be collected.

A team of four to ten explorers, typically meteorite scientists, lives for 5–7 weeks on the ice field.

The teams make sure that the specimen remains frozen throughout its journey back to the Antarctic Meteorite Curation Facility at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Meteorites of greater interest and undergoing detailed study are kept at JSC for distribution to the scientific community, though, ultimately, all samples collected by ANSMET are transferred to the Smithsonian Institution for permanent storage and curation.

[3] Curators at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the National Museum of Natural History classify each representative chip of meteorite sent by NASA.