A Curtin-led research team has found asteroid impacts on the Moon millions of years ago coincided precisely with some of the largest meteorite impacts on Earth, such as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.<\/p>\n
The study also found that major impact events on Earth were not stand-alone events, but were accompanied by a series of smaller impacts, shedding new light on asteroid dynamics in the inner solar system, including the likelihood of potentially devastating Earth-bound asteroids.<\/p>\n
The international research team studied microscopic glass beads aged up to two billion years old that were found in lunar soil brought back to Earth in December 2020 as part of the Chinese National Space Agency\u2019s Chang\u2019e-5 Lunar mission. The heat and pressure of meteorite impacts created the glass beads and so their age distribution should mimic the impacts, revealing a timeline of bombardments.<\/p>\n
Lead author Professor Alexander Nemchin, from Â鶹ֱ²¥\u2019s Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the findings imply that the timing and frequency of asteroid impacts on the Moon may have been mirrored on Earth, telling us more about the history of evolution of our own planet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe combined a wide range of microscopic analytical techniques, numerical modelling, and geological surveys to determine how these microscopic glass beads from the Moon were formed and when,\u201d Professor Nemchin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that some of the age groups of the lunar glass beads coincide precisely with the ages of some of the largest terrestrial impact crater events, including the Chicxulub impact crater responsible for the dinosaur extinction event.<\/p>\n