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Meteorite Reveals Chemistry of Early Earth

PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:13 am
by David Entwistle
An interesting report from Astrobiology Magazine. See here for details.

Carbonaceous chondrites are a type of organic-rich meteorite that contain samples of the materials that took part in the creation of our planets nearly 4.6 billion years ago, including materials that were likely formed before our solar system was created, and may have been crucial to the formation of life on Earth.

The complex suite of organic materials found in carbonaceous chondrites can vary substantially from meteorite to meteorite. New research from Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Geophysical Laboratory, published June 10 in Science, shows that most of these variations are the result of hydrothermal activity that took place within a few million years of the formation of the Solar System, when the meteorites were still part of larger parent bodies, likely asteroids.


The press release from the Carnegie Institution for Science is here.

Re: Meteorite Reveals Chemistry of Early Earth

PostPosted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 9:22 pm
by Matt Smith
Thanks for posting David, I've added it to the main page.

Re: Meteorite Reveals Chemistry of Early Earth

PostPosted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:29 pm
by David C
Yes...I did read that David. I believe there was a link on one of the MetList postings. Interesting, although something we all knew about and heard of before.