{"id":1368,"date":"2020-07-29T12:03:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T12:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2020-07-29T12:03:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T12:03:43","slug":"space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
by\u00a0Caleb Davies<\/strong><\/h5>\n

To be a meteorite hunter means to search for the unutterably rare. On any given patch of land the size of Wales, an average of two olive-sized space rocks will fall in a year. Scientists and collectors are forced to go to extreme lengths to find them, searching in deserts and Antarctica where they have a chance of spotting the stones against a plain background. But if that sounds like a challenge, then how about hunting meteorites that fell to Earth millions of years ago?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

Finding fossil meteorites is a whole new level of difficulty because these rocks are not spread thinly on the surface but, like dinosaur fossils, entombed in ancient rocks. But geologist Professor Birger Schmitz at Lund University in Sweden has discovered a way to find them \u2013 and not just the odd rock, but sizeable quantities of fossilised space dust.<\/p>\n

It turns out that this can paint a unique picture of how the course of ancient life on Earth was influenced by goings on in space\u00a0\u2013 and has already revealed how space dust from an asteroid collision 466 million years ago could have triggered an ice age.<\/p>\n

Rocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meteorites are rocks from space that have fallen on Earth, mostly fragments of the asteroids jostling between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n

We know that one huge rock smashed into Earth 66 million years ago, killing off the dinosaurs and most other life. This was first hypothesised by Nobel Prize winner Luis Alvarez and his son Walter, both then based at universities in Berkeley, the US. They led the team that discovered a thin iridium-rich ash layer in sediments globally which formed when the dinosaurs became extinct. Iridium is extremely rare in our planet\u2019s crust and so the team concluded that this element had been delivered by a huge asteroid. The implication was that this cataclysm wiped out the dinosaurs, along with three-quarters of all other living things.<\/p>\n

Prof. Schmitz did his postdoc with the Alvarez team and it\u2019s fair to say it shaped his career. \u2018Until their discovery, the evolution of life and the history of Earth was almost always thought of like a closed system,\u2019 said Prof. Schmitz. \u2018I became fascinated by trying to connect what goes on in space with what happens on Earth.\u2019<\/p>\n

Returning home to Sweden in 1990, Prof. Schmitz read some newspaper reports saying that an amateur geologist named Mario Tassinari had found a few fossil meteorites in the Thorsberg quarry on the southern shore of Lake V\u00e4nern. At this time, there were only a handful of fossil meteorites known to science. Was this a chance to study what meteorites had been like millions of years ago and piece together the effects they had on Earth? Prof. Schmitz called Tassinari and they agreed to collaborate on a systematic study of the quarry.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u2018(Many of) these meteorites are as different from the meteorites that fall today as some of the animals that were living in that time are compared to today\u2019s animals.\u2019<\/p>\n

Prof. Birger Schmitz, Lund University, Sweden<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Quarry<\/strong><\/p>\n

The quarry workers carve out sheets of limestone for use as floor tiles. When they find a piece that looks like it might hold a space rock, they call Prof. Schmitz. Each year, they get four or five fossil meteorites. They mostly look like little more than black smudges embedded in the rock, a few centimetres across.<\/p>\n

Prof. Schmitz wondered if other quarries might hold similar delights. He also went hunting for meteorites in places with the right kind of floor tiles, such as\u00a0Paddington station in London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it turns out Thorsberg is, as far as we know, a one-off. Special conditions are required to preserve sizeable fossil meteorites in reasonable numbers. You need sediments at the bottom of a body of water that turn to rock very gradually. Slowness is crucial, because that allows more meteorites to accumulate on a small area.<\/p>\n

Around 2000, Prof. Schmitz began to think he was finding rather a lot of stones \u2013 by this time he had nearly 50 in total. He worked out the amount of rock the quarry workers had carved out each year and divided it by the number of meteorites they found. That told him that back when the rock was formed the flux of meteorites, the number falling on a given area in a given time, was about 100 times greater than it is today. An area the size of Wales would have been getting not two meteorites a year, but 200.<\/p>\n

\u2018I still remember the day I thought of this,\u2019 said Prof. Schmitz. \u2018I went immediately to the quarry. \u201cCan I see your logbooks? Are you sure you\u2019ve found such a large number of meteorites in such a small area?\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

There was no mistake. And Prof. Schmitz quickly came up with an explanation. \u2018There is one very likely scenario: that if something explodes in space and breaks up into billions and billions of small pieces \u2013 well, what we saw in the quarry, that’s exactly what would happen.\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2004, Prof. Schmitz and researchers at ETH-Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland,\u00a0published a paper detailing analyses of the fossil meteorites found.\u00a0<\/a>This showed that the meteorites had been in space for relatively short stretches of time \u2013 about a million years \u2013 by looking at the effect of cosmic rays on their mineralogy. He concluded that a violent collision had exploded them onto an Earth-bound trajectory. Still, these stones were small fry in the grand scheme of things; nowhere near large enough to cause an impact that would significantly affect Earth\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

You might think that Prof. Schmitz would have wanted to find something bigger. But it doesn\u2019t work like that. It turns out that hefty meteorites are rare, but smaller ones are more common.<\/p>\n

Space dust<\/strong><\/p>\n

Micrometeorites, otherwise known as space dust, are the most common of all: it\u2019s estimated that today we get showered with 100 tonnes of this stuff each day. Prof. Schmitz reasoned that it must be strewn throughout the limestone in Thorsberg quarry too \u2013 if only there was a way to find it.<\/p>\n

One mineral, chromite, in micrometeorites is incredibly hardy: \u2018It\u2019s extremely resistant, it survives everything,\u2019 said Prof. Schmitz.<\/p>\n

That gave him an idea, which\u00a0he investigated through a\u00a0project called Astrogeobiosphere<\/a>. \u2018I told my poor student the time, \u201cNiklas, take 5 kilograms of rock and dissolve it in hydrochloric acid.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Doing so resulted in\u00a010 tiny fragments of extraterrestrial chromite, each a tenth of a millimetre long. And repeating this\u00a0at intervals in the limestone revealed there was a\u00a0huge uptick in space dust in 466 million year old rock<\/a>, results that Prof. Schmitz published in 2019.<\/p>\n

The space dust arrival coincides with a cold period known as the mid-Ordovician ice age. Prof. Schmitz concluded that a massive collision in the asteroid belt spewed out both large meteorites and a gargantuan cloud of dust, which blocked lots of sunlight from reaching Earth, leading to an ice age. After the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, it would be the second example of an event in the wider cosmos profoundly influencing Earth\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think this is a hugely exciting story,\u2019 said Dr Katie Joy, a planetary scientist at the University of Manchester, UK. \u2018It\u2019s a massive amount of work and I don\u2019t envy them, having to crush up tonnes and tonnes and rock and passing it through acid.\u2019<\/p>\n

She adds that there is still work to be done to understand the biases in the sample. The minerals Prof. Schmitz is studying are not found in every sort of asteroid and comet, which means they do not represent all the rock types that have fallen from space to Earth. \u2018This record is a partial record,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

Through Astrogeobiosphere, Prof. Schmitz has taken this work even further by dissolving 20 tonnes of rock from different quarries, with samples from each representing different periods in Earth\u2019s deep history.\u00a0The idea was to provide the first sketch of how incoming space dust has varied over time.<\/p>\n

He says this work is done and he and his team have a collection of different meteorites that fell on Earth in the distant past \u2013 but it won\u2019t be published for a few months. However, fossil meteorites continue to reveal new information about Earth’s past.<\/p>\n

\u2018(Many of) these meteorites are as different from the meteorites that fall today as some of the animals that were living in that time are compared to today\u2019s animals,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

The research in this article was funded by the European Research Council. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Published by Horizon<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Caleb Davies To be a meteorite hunter means to search for the unutterably rare. On any given patch of land the size of Wales, an average of two olive-sized space rocks will fall in a year. Scientists and collectors are forced to go to extreme lengths to find them, searching in deserts and Antarctica where … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":1369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space"],"yoast_head":"\nSpace dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by\u00a0Caleb Davies To be a meteorite hunter means to search for the unutterably rare. On any given patch of land the size of Wales, an average of two olive-sized space rocks will fall in a year. Scientists and collectors are forced to go to extreme lengths to find them, searching in deserts and Antarctica where ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horizon Magazine Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-29T12:03:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"815\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Horizon Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Horizon Magazine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679\"},\"headline\":\"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-29T12:03:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1450,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Space\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/\",\"name\":\"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past - Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-29T12:03:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":815,\"caption\":\"Fossil meteorites from the mid-Ordovician period, around 460 million years ago, indicate that Earth may have been hit by debris from an asteroid collision at that time.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/1368\\\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"description\":\"The EU Research & Innovation Magazine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/eu-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/eu-logo.jpg\",\"width\":601,\"height\":283,\"caption\":\"Horizon Magazine Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679\",\"name\":\"Horizon Magazine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Horizon Magazine\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/horizon.magazine.eu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/HorizonMagEU\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/horizon\\\/author\\\/horizonmagazine\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past - Horizon Magazine Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past","og_description":"by\u00a0Caleb Davies To be a meteorite hunter means to search for the unutterably rare. On any given patch of land the size of Wales, an average of two olive-sized space rocks will fall in a year. Scientists and collectors are forced to go to extreme lengths to find them, searching in deserts and Antarctica where ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/","og_site_name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu","article_published_time":"2020-07-29T12:03:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":815,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Horizon Magazine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Horizon Magazine","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/"},"author":{"name":"Horizon Magazine","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/person\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679"},"headline":"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past","datePublished":"2020-07-29T12:03:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/"},"wordCount":1450,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg","articleSection":["Space"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/","name":"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past - Horizon Magazine Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg","datePublished":"2020-07-29T12:03:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg","width":1200,"height":815,"caption":"Fossil meteorites from the mid-Ordovician period, around 460 million years ago, indicate that Earth may have been hit by debris from an asteroid collision at that time."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1368\/space-dust-fossils-are-providing-a-new-window-onto-earths-past\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Space dust fossils are providing a new window onto Earth\u2019s past"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/","name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","description":"The EU Research & Innovation Magazine","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#organization","name":"Horizon Magazine Blog","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/eu-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/eu-logo.jpg","width":601,"height":283,"caption":"Horizon Magazine Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/#\/schema\/person\/8f23522ba58f477f04dd574e1034f679","name":"Horizon Magazine","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/407bd816be829798850d5e7f646c4137f70c86c6af6c761b67a6ea80c364ffa4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Horizon Magazine"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/horizon.magazine.eu","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/HorizonMagEU"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/author\/horizonmagazine\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/07\/fossilmeteorite-SM.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNKV-m4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":702,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/702\/how-scientists-are-piecing-together-the-history-of-the-moon\/","url_meta":{"origin":1368,"position":0},"title":"How scientists are piecing together the history of the moon","author":"Anthony King","date":"February 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In the solar system\u2019s early days, a first Earth is thought to have been pulverised by a planet that scientists call Theia. We don\u2019t know what it was made of or where it came from, only that it may have been the size of Mars. The powerful collision destroyed both\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"innovation\"","block_context":{"text":"innovation","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/tag\/innovation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ANDY SMITH ASTRONOMY","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/bloodmoon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/bloodmoon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/bloodmoon.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/bloodmoon.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/bloodmoon.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/bloodmoon.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2537,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2537\/meteors-help-answer-riddles-about-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":1368,"position":1},"title":"Meteors help answer riddles about water","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"October 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Minerals in ancient meteorites offer insights into the origin of almost three-quarters of the Earth\u2019s surface.\u00a0 By\u00a0 Michael Allen Dr Alice Stephant, an astrophysicist, is helping to solve a longstanding mystery about water on Earth: where it came from.\u202f\u00a0 Scientists long thought that water, which covers 70% of the Earth,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Space"","block_context":{"text":"Space","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/space\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/23.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/23.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/23.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/23.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/23.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/10\/23.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":693,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/693\/the-moons-water-where-did-it-come-from-and-where-did-it-all-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":1368,"position":2},"title":"The moon\u2019s water: where did it come from \u2013 and where did it all go?","author":"Richard Gray","date":"February 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Fragments of moon rock brought back from the lunar surface by astronauts on the Apollo space missions are providing new insights about where our planet\u2019s life-giving water came from. The next time you take a sip of water, take a moment to consider where it has come from. It may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Space"","block_context":{"text":"Space","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/space\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image Credit - ANDY SMITH ASTRONOMY","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/moonandysmith2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/moonandysmith2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/moonandysmith2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/moonandysmith2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/moonandysmith2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/moonandysmith2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2337,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2337\/shedding-light-on-the-sun\/","url_meta":{"origin":1368,"position":3},"title":"Shedding light on the Sun","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"March 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As questions abound about the Earth\u2019s closest star, scientists are seeking answers critical to forecasting solar flares that threaten satellites and other electronics. By\u00a0\u00a0ANTHONY KING For most of humankind\u2019s history, it has been hard to explain the Sun as anything other than a powerful deity. For instance, the ancient Greek\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Earth, Energy & Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Earth, Energy & Environment","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/earth-energy-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/30The_Sun_in_high_resolutionsmall.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/30The_Sun_in_high_resolutionsmall.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/30The_Sun_in_high_resolutionsmall.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/30The_Sun_in_high_resolutionsmall.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1685,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1685\/qa-how-were-gearing-up-to-deflect-asteroids-that-might-cause-earth-considerable-damage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1368,"position":4},"title":"Q&A: How we\u2019re gearing up to deflect asteroids that might cause Earth considerable damage","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"April 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Asteroids \u2014 the bits and pieces left over from the formation of the inner planets \u2014\u00a0are a source of great curiosity for those keen to learn about the building blocks of our solar system, and to probe the chemistry of life. Humans are also considering mining asteroids for metals, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Space"","block_context":{"text":"Space","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/space\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/04\/PIA00069-asteroid-Ida-NASA-JPL.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/04\/PIA00069-asteroid-Ida-NASA-JPL.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/04\/PIA00069-asteroid-Ida-NASA-JPL.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/04\/PIA00069-asteroid-Ida-NASA-JPL.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1714,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1714\/the-line-is-getting-fuzzier-asteroids-and-comets-may-be-more-similar-than-we-think\/","url_meta":{"origin":1368,"position":5},"title":"\u2018The line is getting fuzzier\u2019: asteroids and comets may be more similar than we think","author":"Horizon Magazine","date":"May 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"As anyone who has ever tried to clean a home knows, ridding yourself of dust is a Sisyphean effort. No surface stays free of it for long. It turns out that space is somewhat similar. Space is filled with interplanetary dust, which the Earth constantly collects as it plods around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Space"","block_context":{"text":"Space","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/category\/space\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/905px-Comet_67P_on_19_September_2014_NavCam_mosaic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/905px-Comet_67P_on_19_September_2014_NavCam_mosaic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/905px-Comet_67P_on_19_September_2014_NavCam_mosaic.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/05\/905px-Comet_67P_on_19_September_2014_NavCam_mosaic.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}