A giant asteroid crash caused an ancient ice age on Earth ... · Celebrity-Approved Teeth Whitening...
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A giant asteroid crash caused an ancient ice age on Earth, but also gave life a boost ! Updated 1806 GMT (0206 HKT) September 18, 2019 By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Earth endured an ancient ice age 466 million years ago when a giant asteroid broke apart and sent waves of dust toward our planet over the next 2 million years, according to a new study. And surprisingly, while the massive inflow of dust caused global temperatures on Earth to plummet, it also provided a chance for new evolving species to flourish. The 93-mile-wide asteroid was in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter when it collided with something else and broke apart, creating a wealth of dust that flooded the inner solar system. "It is analogous to standing in the middle of your living room and smashing a vacuum cleaner bag, only at a much larger scale," said Birger Schmitz, lead study author and professor of geology at Lund University. Earth is no stranger to the inflow of space material, like pieces of comets and asteroids. "Normally, Earth gains about 40,000 tons of extraterrestrial material every year," said Philipp Heck, study author, a curator at the Field Museum and associate professor at the University of Chicago. "Imagine multiplying that by a factor of a thousand or ten thousand." To put that in perspective, think about semi trucks loaded down with interplanetary dust. Over the course of one year, Earth receives one thousand semis' worth of dust. But over the 2 million years after the giant asteroid broke apart, Earth was inundated with 10 million semi trucks' worth of dust. "Our hypothesis is that the large amounts of extraterrestrial dust over a timeframe of at least two million years played an important role in changing the climate on Earth, contributing to cooling," Heck said. The study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Dust from the asteroid caused a disruption in the amount of sunlight Earth received, which led to an ice age. This actually set the stage for the conditions we see on Earth now -- arctic conditions at the North and South poles and more tropical conditions around the equator. Before this ice age, the climate on Earth was more similar across the globe, not divided into climate zones. But these climate zones also provided a way for Earth's invertebrates to adapt to new conditions and temperatures. Those adaptations led to an evolution boom. "In the global cooling we studied, we're talking about timescales of millions of years," Heck said. "It's very di[erent from the climate change caused by the meteorite 65 million years ago that killed the dinosaurs, and it's di[erent from the global warming today -- this global cooling was a gentle nudge. There was less stress." To understand how this process unfolded, the researchers found evidence of space dust locked in 466-million-year-old rocks that were once on the sea floor. These were compared to micrometeorites that have been recovered in Antarctica. The researchers knew, based on previous studies, that an ice age had occurred at the time. The space dust was recovered from the rocks by treating them with acid that can dissolve the stone, but not extraterrestrial matter. They also found elements and di[erent forms of atoms that indicate an origin in space, rather than on Earth, in the rocks. They uncovered special helium atoms missing a neutron, which means they originated from the sun, as well as rare metals that are usually located in asteroids. The rocks also indicate that oceans were more shallow at this time, likely because water was trapped in ice. Together, the researchers have evidence of an influx of space dust trapped in fossilized rock as well as indications of an ice age both dating to the same time, marrying cause and e[ect. "Our results show for the first time that such dust, at times, has cooled Earth dramatically," Schmitz said. The discovery comes as the Earth is facing climate change again. But could positioning asteroids in orbit around our planet help stop global warming? "Geoengineering proposals should be evaluated very critically and very carefully, because if something goes wrong, things could become worse than before," Heck said. "We're experiencing global warming, it's undeniable. And we need to think about how we can prevent catastrophic consequences, or minimize them. Any idea that's reasonable should be explored." Found: Fossils created by asteroid that annihilated dinosaurs 01:02 Related Article: New images reveal Ryugu is an oddly dust-free asteroid Related Article: Asteroid as powerful as 10 billion WWII atomic bombs may have wiped out the dinosaurs Fossils of trilobites that evolved following the mid-Ordovician ice age. Related Article: China's meteorite hunters: The adventurers hoping to get rich from rocks Meteorite fragments were analyzed and determined to have originated from the asteroid event 466 million years ago. Related Article: Scientists have found a 'fossil graveyard' linked to the asteroid that killed o[ the dinosaurs PAID CONTENT Portugal: People Thrilled With This Ultra-Fast WiFi Boost Device Sponsored: Wise Web Savings How Asia sowed the seeds of internationalization Sponsored: CGTN Why Everybody is Snapping Up These New Earphones? Sponsored: Next Tech O aplicativo mais bacana para o seu filho aprender inglês! 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Transcript of A giant asteroid crash caused an ancient ice age on Earth ... · Celebrity-Approved Teeth Whitening...
A giant asteroid crash caused anancient ice age on Earth, but also gavelife a boost
! Updated 1806 GMT (0206 HKT) September 18, 2019By Ashley Strickland, CNN
(CNN) — Earth endured an ancient ice age 466 million years ago when a giant asteroid broke
apart and sent waves of dust toward our planet over the next 2 million years, according to a new
study. And surprisingly, while the massive inflow of dust caused global temperatures on Earth to
plummet, it also provided a chance for new evolving species to flourish.
The 93-mile-wide asteroid was in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter when it
collided with something else and broke apart, creating a wealth of dust that flooded the inner
solar system.
"It is analogous to standing in the middle of your living room and smashing a vacuum cleaner
bag, only at a much larger scale," said Birger Schmitz, lead study author and professor of
geology at Lund University.
Earth is no stranger to the inflow of space material, like pieces of comets and asteroids.
"Normally, Earth gains about 40,000 tons of extraterrestrial material every year," said Philipp
Heck, study author, a curator at the Field Museum and associate professor at the University of
Chicago. "Imagine multiplying that by a factor of a thousand or ten thousand."
To put that in perspective, think about semi trucks
loaded down with interplanetary dust. Over the course
of one year, Earth receives one thousand semis' worth
of dust.
But over the 2 million years after the giant asteroid
broke apart, Earth was inundated with 10 million semi
trucks' worth of dust.
"Our hypothesis is that the large amounts of
extraterrestrial dust over a timeframe of at least two
million years played an important role in changing the climate on Earth, contributing to cooling,"
Heck said.
The study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
Dust from the asteroid caused a disruption in the
amount of sunlight Earth received, which led to an ice
age. This actually set the stage for the conditions we
see on Earth now -- arctic conditions at the North and
South poles and more tropical conditions around the
equator.
Before this ice age, the climate on Earth was more
similar across the globe, not divided into climate zones.
But these climate zones also provided a way for Earth's
invertebrates to adapt to new conditions and
temperatures. Those adaptations led to an evolution boom.
"In the global cooling we studied, we're talking about timescales of millions of years," Heck said.
"It's very di[erent from the climate change caused by the meteorite 65 million years ago that
killed the dinosaurs, and it's di[erent from the global warming today -- this global cooling was a
gentle nudge. There was less stress."
To understand how this process unfolded, the researchers found evidence of space dust locked
in 466-million-year-old rocks that were once on the sea floor. These were compared to
micrometeorites that have been recovered in Antarctica. The researchers knew, based on
previous studies, that an ice age had occurred at the time.
The space dust was recovered from the rocks by
treating them with acid that can dissolve the stone, but
not extraterrestrial matter. They also found elements
and di[erent forms of atoms that indicate an origin in
space, rather than on Earth, in the rocks. They
uncovered special helium atoms missing a neutron,
which means they originated from the sun, as well as
rare metals that are usually located in asteroids.
The rocks also indicate that oceans were more shallow at this time, likely because water was
trapped in ice.
Together, the researchers have evidence of an influx of
space dust trapped in fossilized rock as well as
indications of an ice age both dating to the same time,
marrying cause and e[ect.
"Our results show for the first time that such dust, at
times, has cooled Earth dramatically," Schmitz said.
The discovery comes as the Earth is facing climate
change again. But could positioning asteroids in orbit
around our planet help stop global warming?
"Geoengineering proposals should be evaluated very critically and very carefully, because if
something goes wrong, things could become worse than before," Heck said. "We're
experiencing global warming, it's undeniable. And we need to think about how we can prevent
catastrophic consequences, or minimize them. Any idea that's reasonable should be explored."
Found: Fossils created by asteroid that annihilated dinosaurs 01:02
Related Article: New images revealRyugu is an oddly dust-free asteroid
Related Article: Asteroid as powerful as10 billion WWII atomic bombs may havewiped out the dinosaurs
Fossils of trilobites that evolved following the mid-Ordovician ice age.
Related Article: China's meteoritehunters: The adventurers hoping to getrich from rocks
Meteorite fragments were analyzed and determined to have originated from the asteroid event 466million years ago.
Related Article: Scientists have found a'fossil graveyard' linked to the asteroidthat killed o[ the dinosaurs
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U.S.
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