Posted on 12/15/2017 12:06:59 PM PST by BenLurkin
Geologists exploring volcanic rocks on Scotland's Isle of Skye have found ejecta from a previously unknown, 60 million-year-old meteorite impact.
The discovery, the first meteorite impact described within the British Paleogene Igneous Province (BPIP), raises questions about the impact and its possible connection to Paleogene volcanic activity across the North Atlantic.
Simon Drake, an associate lecturer in geology at Birkbeck University of London, zeroed in on a meter-thick layer at the base of a 60.0 million-year-old lava flow.
"We thought it was an ignimbrite (a volcanic flow deposit)," said Drake.
However, when researchers analysed the rock using an electron microprobe, they discovered that it contained rare minerals straight from outer space: vanadium-rich and niobium-rich osbornite.
These mineral forms have never been reported on Earth.They have, however, been collected by NASA's Stardust Comet Sample Return Mission as space dust in the wake of the Wild 2 comet, researchers said.
What is more, the osbornite is unmelted, suggesting that it was an original piece of the meteorite.
The team also identified reidite, an extremely high pressure form of zircon which is only ever associated in nature with impacts, along with native iron and other exotic mineralogy linked to impacts such as barringerite.
(Excerpt) Read more at ndtv.com ...
Meanwhile, in other exciting news...the sun is due to go down in the West.
The meteor was for freedom.
Did it hit Nessie?
So is ejecta a more polite term for comet vomit?
How do they determine 10 million from 60 million years?
I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to throw the BS flag on this one.
I think they just found a snocone that somebody dropped.
Ewww
Crater vomit.
Name ‘em, ping ‘em...
Maybe it’s from the Big One that killed off the dinosaurs...................
Nothing on the size of the object or crater.
A few million years too young.
They were wiped off the face of the earth 5 million years earlier.
Probably just as well...
Potassium-argon dating and other methods no doubt.
Not on the Isle of Skye
Pardon me, but there are no islands in the sky unless you live in some James Cameron movie.
Thanks BenLurkin. "It's said, and said truly, of the hero Finn MacCuil, that if one day goes by without his name being mentioned, the world will come to an end..."
|
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
