Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Posted on 01/05/2020 1:47:12 AM PST by SunkenCiv
...Earth was bombarded on a regular basis during its formative years -- by meteorites and other space rocks. Some of those collisions left behind evidence that is still observable today in the form of craters. One of them is Mistastin Lake crater located in Labrador Canada, which is approximately 28 kilometers across, suggesting that the object that struck the Earth there was large. The researchers dated the collision that caused the crater back to approximately 38 million years ago... In studying the crater, the researchers found evidence of zircon, a common mineral, being changed into cubic zirconia. Prior work with both minerals has shown that temperatures of 2370° C are required for that to take place. Thus, the heat generated by the impact had to have reached at least that temperature. The finding represents the hottest temperature ever found to exist naturally on the surface of the Earth. The researchers note that this is the first time zirconia has ever been used to calculate the heat of an impact and also shows that some rocks can get hotter naturally than has been thought.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
As far as I’ve heard, the largest impact was the Sudbury event.
Ya don’t say.
So the Gulf of Mexico should be full of CZ off of Yucatán?
And no major extinction event 38M years ago?
“With a pair of zircon-encrusted tweezers in my hand, every other wrangler would say I was mighty grand.”
I don’t understand why people are so surprised at things that happened when the earth was still a child...
;o]
‘Face
A hydrogen bomb produces a fireball that’s 100 million degrees C.
A hydrogen bomb produces a fireball that’s 100 million degrees C.
...
Does that mean diamonds instead of zirconia?
38 million years isn’t that long ago.
;-)
For later
That would mean atomic plasma. Even diamond vaporizes at only around 5,000º C.
“38 million years isn’t that long ago.”
Ahhh...the good old days...
Well, it wasn’t in the earth’s teenage years, was it?
Actually, it’s adult years when when comparing it to total age, not much different than today.
It is important to note that this is the highest NATURAL temperature found. Much much higher temperatures have been created under laboratory conditions.
OK.
I was never good at math...
;o]
Boy, that’ll leave a mark. And it did.
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