2023-11-25 14:00:18
The origin of a strange glass identified in Libya has been the subject of debate among scientists for almost a century: now, a new study based on advanced microscopy indicates that it is a product of impact of a meteorite on the surface from the earth. The yellow crystal would be a remnant of ancient space collisions, which formed the planets and their natural satellites during the genesis of the Solar System.
An international team of researchers led by the scientist Elizaveta Kovalevafrom the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, has shown that the mysterious yellow crystal fragments first identified 9 years ago0 years in the Libyan desert They are the product of the impact of un meteorite on Earth. In this way, determining the extraterrestrial origin of this glass culminates a long controversy among the scientific community.
Together with colleagues from universities and scientific centers in Germany, Egypt and Morocco, Kovaleva summarized the findings in a new study, recently published in the journal American Mineralogist. The strange crystals were first described in un scientific article from 1933, and are known as Libyan desert glass.
With unique features
Although natural glasses can be found in different parts of the Earth, such as the moldavites from the Ries crater in Europe or the tektites of the Ivory Coast, none of these examples are as rich in silica as the yellow desert crystals from Libya. Furthermore, no pieces or fragments of those dimensions have been found in other places.
As Kovaleva explains in an article published in The Conversation, the Great Sand Sea Desert extends over an area of 72,000 square kilometers linking Egypt and Libya. In some sectors of that endless desert, it is possible to find with the naked eye pieces of yellow glass scattered through the sandy landscape.
The origin of this glass has been the subject of scientific debate for almost a century. Some theories indicate that it could come from volcanoes on the Moon. Other specialists propose that it is the product of a lightning strike, in a process called fulgurites: glass that is formed from the fusion of sand and earth in the sector struck by lightning.
Other hypotheses postulate that these crystals are the result of sedimentary or hydrothermal processes, generated by a massive explosion of a meteorite in the air, or that come from the crater from a nearby meteorite. In 1996, scientists determined that the glass was about 29 million years old. They later suggested that the original material was composed of quartz grains, coated with a mixture of clay minerals and oxides of iron and titanium.
Extraterrestrial origin
Now, the team led by Kovaleva analyzed two pieces of yellow glass collected in the Al Jaouf region, in southeastern Libya. By studying the samples with a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, which allows us to see particles 20,000 times smaller than the thickness of a sheet of paper, the specialists found different types of zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) in the crystals.
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In order for these elements to be identified on our planet, it is necessary that specific conditions be met. pressure and temperature that can only be obtained in the earth’s crust through the impact of a meteorite, or through the explosion of an atomic bomb. By ruling out the second option, scientists confirmed the extraterrestrial origin of the yellow crystal from Libya: it would come from the remains ejected from the crater caused by the meteorite when it hit the Earth.
However, there are still various unknowns to be resolved in future studies: for example, scientists did not find in the vicinity of the sites where these crystals are seen. no impact crater with location and the dimensions to produce the extraterrestrial glass. Although this is a great new mystery, specialists believe that the crater may be close to that area, but remains hidden as it has been eroded and covered in sand.
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