In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries. Almost 15 million years ago, an asteroid struck this […]
Impact event
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Impact events, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Evolution of a Water-rich Atmosphere Formed by a Giant Impact on an Earth-sized Planet
The atmosphere of a terrestrial planet that is replenished with secondary gases should have accumulated hydrogen-rich gas from its protoplanetary disk.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Astrogeology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Impact events, Press Release
Earth’s Most Ancient Impact Craters Are Disappearing
Earth’s oldest craters could give scientists critical information about the structure of the early Earth and the composition of bodies in the solar system as well as help to interpret […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Impact events, Status Report
Giant Impact Events For Protoplanets: Energetics of Atmospheric Erosion by Head-on Collision
Numerous exoplanets with masses ranging from Earth to Neptune and radii larger than Earth have been found through observations.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Impact events, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Origin Of Life Molecules In The Atmosphere After Big Impacts On The Early Earth
The origin of life on Earth would benefit from a prebiotic atmosphere that produced nitriles, like HCN, which enable ribonucleotide synthesis. However, geochemical evidence suggests that Hadean air was relatively […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Impact events, Plant Biology, Press Release
A Fossil Fruit Shows Ancestors Of Coffee And Potatoes Survived The Cretaceous Extinction
The discovery of an 80-million-year-old fossil plant pushes back the known origins of lamiids to the Cretaceous, extending the record of nearly 40,000 species of flowering plants including modern-day staple […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extinction events, Habitable Zones, Impact events, Press Release
About The Loss Of A Primordial Atmosphere Of Super-Earths By Planetesimal Impacts
We consider planets composed of water ice and rock, located far from a central star. In an earlier study, computing the growth of planets by continuous accretion, we found that […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Icy Worlds, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Status Report
New Signatures of Bio-Molecular Complexity in the Hypervelocity Impact Ejecta of Icy Moon Analogues
Impact delivery of prebiotic compounds to the early Earth from an impacting comet is considered to be one of the possible ways by which prebiotic molecules arrived on the Earth.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Impact events, Plant Biology, Press Release
Discovery Of Sunscreen-like Chemicals In Fossil Plants Reveals UV Radiation Played A Part In Mass Extinction Events
New research has uncovered that pollen preserved in 250 million year old rocks contain compounds that function like sunscreen, these are produced by plants to protect them from harmful ultraviolet […]
Posted inExtinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Impact events, Press Release
Dinosaurs Were On The Up Before Asteroid Downfall
The findings provide the strongest evidence yet that the dinosaurs were struck down in their prime and were not in decline, at the time the asteroid hit.