[meteorite-list] Organics Preserved in Ancient Meteorite-Formed Glass

From: Shawn Alan <photophlow_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 00:31:34 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <1387269094.3280.YahooMailNeo_at_web162606.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>

Hello Listers
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Found this article to be interesting in the since I don't know much about impact glass and wasn't sure how important it can be, but I think
organics preserved in the glass is pretty cool and helps supports how meteorites helped formed the life forms on earth.
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Shawn Alan
IMCA 1633
ebay storehttp://www.ebay.com/sch/imca1633nyc/m.html
http://meteoritefalls.com/
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Article
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Organics Preserved in Ancient Meteorite-Formed Glass
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Scientists have found organics from Earth's swamp trapped inside of glass created by a meteor impact almost a million years ago. The tiny pockets, only micrometers across, contain material such as cellulose and proteins. Though the impact glass was found on Earth, scientists say that similar samples could have been thrown into space by this or other blasts, allowing organics to be transported from one planet to another.

Impact glass

Approximately 800,000 years ago, a rock 100 to 160 feet (30 to 50 meters) across crashed down in Western Tasmania, Australia. As it slammed into the Earth, temperatures exceeded 1,700 degrees Celsius (3,100 degrees Fahrenheit), melting rock and creating glass sphericals, as well as a quarter-mile wide hole known as the Darwin Crater.

"The reason the glass is so abundant seems likely to relate to the presence of volatiles like water at the surface when the impact occurred," lead author Kieren Howard of the City University of New York told Astrobiology by email.

"A bit like when water from your spatula drips into a frying pan, having the right amount of water at the surface during impact may have increased the magnitude of the explosion, and the production and dispersal of the melt."
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http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/5876/organics-preserved-in-ancient-meteorite-formed-glass-
Received on Tue 17 Dec 2013 03:31:34 AM PST