Aerial view of Nördlinger Ries crater in Germany, a formation so subtle it was not even known as an impact crater until the 1960s. Credit: Credit: Jesse Allen/NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS/ASTER
Could life thrive in the devastated rock left behind after a meteorite impact? A new study hints that possibly, that could be the case. Researchers discovered what they think are geological records of biological activity inside of Nördlinger Ries, a crater in Germany that is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) wide.
What the researchers say could be microbial trace fossils — specifically, tiny “tubular features” — were spotted inside the impact glass created after the meteorite impact melted the surrounding rock. These features are tiny — one-millionth to three-millionths of a meter in diameter — and were examined with spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy to confirm the findings, the team stated.
“The simplest and most consistent explanation of the data is that biological activity played a role in the formation of the tubular textures in the Ries glasses, likely during post-impact hydrothermal activity,” stated post-doctoral fellow Haley Sapers, a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Western Ontario who led the research.
The researchers suggest that on other planets, looking in impact glass might be a good spot to search for tubular features such as the ones they found. The findings are peer-reviewed, but we’ll be interested to see what independent research teams make of the data collected.
You can read more about the research in the journal Geology.
Source: University of Western Ontario
What a wonderful arguably simple solution. Here’s the problem, we travel to Mars but how…
One of the main scientific objectives of next-generation observatories (like the James Webb Space Telescope)…
In the coming decades, NASA and China intend to send the first crewed missions to…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has just increased the number of known distant supernovae…
The supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy is a quiet…
Will future humans use warp drives to explore the cosmos? We're in no position to…