Between Mars and Jupiter, 470 million years ago, there was a massive collision between two 100km-sized chunks of rock – this solar system’s biggest bang of the last billion years. It created a massive cloud of smaller fragments. Some of these landed on the earth, falling at a rate at least a hundred times greater… Continue reading The Great Ordovician meteor shower
Category: impacts
Some facets of the Geology of Diamonds
Originally published on the Scientific American guest blog. Geoscientists can’t say if diamonds are forever, but they can say that some are already billions of years old. They form in a place we’ll never reach: the deep earth, hundreds of kilometres under our feet. Diamonds tell us much about this hidden world and how it… Continue reading Some facets of the Geology of Diamonds
Earth, moon and Mars: connected by meteorites
The time immediately after earth’s formation is known as the Hadean Eon. It was a time when earth suffered a heavy bombardment from space. Rocks this age on earth are extremely rare, mostly they have been destroyed by later events – eroded, dissolved, melted or smashed. Scientists searching for rocks formed during these hellish times… Continue reading Earth, moon and Mars: connected by meteorites
What came from outer space
I admit it. I’m geocentric. Not in the old-fashioned sense, I’m not that eccentric. I don’t believe the earth is the physical centre of the universe, but it certainly feels that way. The universe, space, the wonders of the solar system are all very well, but emotionally they are all ‘out there’ somewhere. A Twentieth… Continue reading What came from outer space