MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Approximately 55 metric tons of meteorites hit the Earth every year, including approximately 2-3 tons in Russia, a leading Russian scientist has told TASS on the anniversary of the Chelyabinsk meteor event.

"Every year, around 55 tons of meteorites hit the Earth. In fact, this is a very small amount," said Dmitry Badyukov, the head of the Meteoritics and Space Chemistry Laboratory of the Russian Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The scientist explained that those 55 tons were an average figure for the entire surface of the earth, and a significant portion of those meteorites splash down in the global ocean.

Only 10-15 tons of meteorites fall on the ground, including two or three tons in Russia, Badyukov added.