Presentation: Meteorite Impacts and Life, Fife, 24th April

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Presentation: Meteorite Impacts and Life, Fife, 24th April

Postby David Entwistle » Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:58 am

See here for details.

The Role of Meteorite Impacts in the Origin and Evolution of Life

Wednesday 24 April 2013, 16h00,
Irvine Lecture Theatre
University of St Andrews
St Andrews
Fife
Scotland
KY16 9AJ

See here for a map.

To be given by Professor Gordon Osinski, University of Western Ontario - Gordon 'Oz' Osinski, alumnus and highly lauded Assistant Professor at the University of Western Ontario (see http://spacerocks.ca/).

Impact cratering is, arguably, the most important and fundamental geological process in the Solar System. Indeed, impact craters are one of the most common geological landforms on the majority of rocky terrestrial planets, asteroids, and many of the rocky and icy moons of the inner and outer Solar System. It is also now apparent that impact events have profoundly affected the origin and evolution of Earth and producing benefits in the form of economic mineral and hydrocarbon deposits.

The destructive geological, environmental, and biological effects of meteorite impact events are well known. This is largely due to the discovery of the ~180 km diameter Chicxulub impact structure, Mexico, and its link to the mass extinction event that marks the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 Myr. Ago. In recent years, it has also become apparent that, once formed, impact events also have certain beneficial effects, particularly for microbial life. The effects range from generating conditions conducive for the origin of life (e.g., clays, which form catalysts for organic reactions, and hot spring environments) to varied habitats for life that persist long after an impact event, including hydrothermal systems, endolithic habitats in shocked rocks and impact glasses, and impact crater lakes. This may have important implications for our understanding of the origin and evolution of early life on Earth, and possibly other planets such as Mars.
David Entwistle
 
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