Great fireball! 4.6 billion years ago, a meteorite from the outer solar system brought life to Earth
A giant fireball from the outer solar system brought the building blocks of life to Earth 4.6 billion years ago, new research reveals.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Imperial College London discovered that these ancient meteorites contained carbonaceous chondrites made of potassium and zinc.
Potassium helps the cells produce fluid, and zinc is essential for the production of DNA.
The team found that these space rocks accounted for 10% of the space rocks that hit planets at birth.
The remaining 90% comes from non-carbon (NC) matter within the solar system.
Life on Earth was initiated by a fireball that struck the newborn planet 4.6 billion years ago.
“Our studies complement and confirm each other’s results in multiple ways,” Dr. Nicole Nee, lead author of the study, told SWS.
“Among moderately volatile elements, potassium is the least volatile and zinc is one of the most volatile.”
Meteorites provided 20% of Earth’s potassium and half of its zinc.
Both are considered volatile substances. A volatile substance is an element or compound that changes from a solid or liquid state to a vapor at relatively low temperatures.
Professor Mark Lekamper, lead author of the Department of Geosciences and Engineering, Imperial College London, said: statement: ‘Our data show that about half of Earth’s zinc inventory was carried by material from the outer solar system beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
“Based on current models of early solar system development, this was completely unexpected.”
Previous studies have suggested that the Earth was formed almost exclusively from matter within the solar system, which researchers speculate is the main source of Earth’s volatile chemicals. I was.
But new research provides the first evidence that parts of Earth formed from carbonaceous meteorites from asteroids in the outer main belt.
“This extrasolar contribution has played an important role in establishing the Earth’s inventory of volatile chemicals,” said Rehkämper.
“Without the contribution of extrasolar matter, the amount of volatile matter on Earth would be far less than we know today, and the Earth could become desiccated and unable to support and sustain life. ”
The team analyzed 18 meteorites,Eleven moved from the inside and the rest from the outside.
The meteorite contains potassium and zinc and migrated from the outer regions of the solar system
and they The relative abundance of five different forms, or isotopes, of zinc was measured.
Each isotope fingerprint was then compared to Earth samples to estimate how much these substances contribute to the Earth’s zinc inventory. This indicates that the Earth has taken up only about 10% of its mass from carbonaceous bodies.
Researchers have found that substances with high concentrations of zinc and other volatile components are also likely to be relatively abundant in water, giving clues to the origin of water on Earth.
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