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Scientists have identified the oldest volcanic rock in the solar system as a meteorite that is 4.6 billion years old. With this discovery, it could help scientists in understanding the building blocks of planets.
The discovery has also been identified as an andesite type rock. On the Earth’s surface, it is found in many subduction zones. This zone is an area that collides with tectonic plates, but meteorites are rarely seen appearing.
The oldest volcanic rock discovery
Launching New Scientist, scientists have recently identified a meteorite with an age of 4.6 billion years. It is the oldest volcanic rock scientists have ever found.
Scientists first discovered these rocks in the Sahara Desert in 2020. The research team finally learned about these extraterrestrial rocks dating back 2 million years since the formation of the solar system.
So, this makes the condition of the rock appear as a meteorite that broke the record as the oldest volcanic rock.
“I’ve been analyzing meteorites for over 20 years and also this might be a very fantastic new meteorite that I have seen,” said Jean-Alix Barrat of the University of Western Brittany France.
Then, he analyzed from the meteorite or the oldest volcanic rock as EC 002 or Erg Chech 002.
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Including Andesite Rocks
Scientists have identified a meteorite which is a type of andesite rock. As scientists already know, if on the surface of the Earth, andesite is among the rocks that most people find.
The rock is in a subduction area or an area where the tectonic plates collide. Then, one of them was pushed to the bottom. This is why, andesite rock types are rarely found in meteorites.
The reason is, the types of meteorites that are found and come from other volcanic rocks. Furthermore, the scientists also analyzed the chemical makeup of the meteorite.
The results were revealed if the oldest volcanic rock had experienced a melting point and returned to hardening in almost 4.6 billion years.
This means that if there is a possibility that the meteorite rock was part of the ancient protoplanetary crust that was divided in the past, the formation of the solar system.
The researchers’ analysis also shows that the magma that forms EC 002 requires at least 100,000 years of cooling and hardening thereafter.
In fact, their further research on meteorites from the oldest solar system could help scientists understand about the various planets that formed. Even including our beloved planet.
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What is a Meteorite?
Meteorites, like the oldest volcanic rock EC002, are different from meteors. If meteors are space rocks or small asteroids that are attracted by Earth’s gravitational force. When these rocks enter the atmosphere, there is air friction in the atmosphere.
With this, the rocks will burn and produce bright light or people commonly call shooting stars.
Meanwhile, a meteorite is a meteor that escapes or manages to enter and reach the Earth’s surface without the process of burning and being destroyed.
Then, meteorites are also one of the most widely used materials to make daggers. Because, the dagger that contains a mixture of meteorite rocks will have a light and very strong mass.
Of course, this volcanic rock contains a very rare and oldest metal, namely titanium. Like a type of meteorite that was recently detected. It even boomed over the sky in the city of Lampung, last January 28.
Witnesses reported that at that time he saw a flash of light and an appearance appeared like a long, straight cloud for dozens of minutes.
Then, the cloud contains a very characteristic smoke trail due to the collision process between celestial bodies. The smoke trail is a condensation trail that eventually forms noctilucent smoke in the stratosphere up to a maximum height of 80 kilometers from the Earth’s surface.
This is indeed some of the earliest features of the meteorites that have fallen to the Earth’s surface. Such is the case with the oldest volcanic rocks that scientists have found in the Sahara Desert or which are the oldest rocks since the solar system was formed. (R10 / HR Online)
Publisher: Jujang
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