Scientists Have Found Traces Of An Ancient Meteorite In Antarctica

An international team of scientists found traces of an ancient meteorite explosion in Antarctica. The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

As noted, researchers have discovered 17 magmatic particles in the Cer-Rondane mountains in Antarctica. After analyzing the chemical composition of the particles, scientists concluded that they were formed after the interaction of the planet with a meteorite about 430,000 ago.

“At first I noticed that some of them (particles, – ed.) looked like they were glued together, which might have happened when they melted. This means that many of them interacted with each other at very high temperatures. They were hugely impacted, “study co-author Matthias van Ginneken, a research fellow at the University of Kent’s School of Physical Sciences, told CNN.

There was reportedly no impact crater at the site of the find. According to scientists, this means that the meteorite exploded in the air, but the formed jet of steam still hit the ice cover.

“It was a hit on landing. An explosion in the atmosphere creates a very hot cloud of gas that travels very quickly towards the ground,” explained van Ginneken.

Van Ginneken believes that the explosion of such a meteorite over a densely populated area could lead to millions of victims and serious damage.

CNN notes that similar, albeit smaller, meteorite explosions in the air have occurred. In particular, there were falls of the Tunguska meteorite in Siberia in 1908 (trees were felled on an area of ​​1200 sq. Km) and a meteorite in Chelyabinsk in 2013 (more than 7000 buildings were damaged, more than 1000 people were injured).