Oldest material found on Earth?

  • Thread starter Thread starter pinball1970
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Earth Material
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the discovery of the oldest material found on Earth, particularly focusing on presolar grains identified in the Murchison meteorite. Participants explore the implications of these findings for understanding planetary formation and interstellar chemistry, referencing articles from Live Science and PNAS.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note that inclusions within meteorites, which avoided melting, have been known for decades and are older than the solar system's estimated age of 4.57 billion years.
  • There is a claim that the Murchison meteorite contains the oldest material yet discovered, with implications for understanding the source of material for the solar system's formation.
  • One participant expresses amazement at the identification of material predating the sun by several billion years, highlighting the significance of the Murchison meteorite.
  • Another participant shares their fascination with meteorites, emphasizing the experience of holding a piece of material that has traveled through space for billions of years.
  • Some participants discuss the challenges of finding comprehensive review papers on solar grains, indicating a need for further exploration of the topic.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a shared interest in the topic and the significance of the findings, but there is no consensus on the implications or interpretations of the data regarding the Murchison meteorite and presolar grains.

Contextual Notes

Some discussions reference the complexity of the chemistry and isotope composition of the grains, which may provide insights into the formation of the solar system, but specific details remain unresolved.

pinball1970
Gold Member
2025 Award
Messages
3,772
Reaction score
5,997
TL;DR
Oldest material found on earth?


This popped up in live science


https://www.livescience.com/oldest-material-on-earth.html


This on PNAS


https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/07/1904573117


Murchison meteorite fell 1969 in Australia.

As well as interesting organics such as bases and amino acids previously found, scientists now claim to have found pre solar grains, billions of years older than the solar system.
  • Like
  • Informative
Likes   Reactions: Dragrath, davenn, Klystron and 1 other person
Earth sciences news on Phys.org
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: davenn and pinball1970
jim mcnamara said:
@davenn may know more
Thanks Jim
Ive just posted to him, he collects meteors from memory!
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: davenn
The @ [username] construct sends a "Ding" - the bell shape on the upper right hand side turns red (title bar)

Testing: @pinball1970 will cause you to get a ding.

Be sure to click in the pop-up window when you start an @ construct to auto-magically create the right syntax - hidden otherwise behind ordinary looking type. It turns blue when you post. If you go back and edit you (bbcode set on gear looking thing) see [ USER=551850]@pinball1970[/USER ] - no spaces. spaces turn it off.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: pinball1970
pinball1970 said:
Summary:: Oldest material found on earth?This popped up in live sciencehttps://www.livescience.com/oldest-material-on-earth.htmlThis on PNAShttps://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/07/1904573117Murchison meteorite fell 1969 in Australia.

As well as interesting organics such as bases and amino acids previously found, scientists now claim to have found pre solar grains, billions of years older than the solar system.

Oldest material found on earth?
This popped up in live science
https://www.livescience.com/oldest-material-on-earth.html
This on PNAS
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/07/1904573117
Any discussions here? Nothing on Murchison.
I'm not quite sure what you are asking. We have known of the existence of inclusions within meteorites that avoided melting (and "clock resetting") for two or three decades. All of these are, necessarily, older than the 4.57 billion year age of the solar system. This Murchison example is the oldest yet discovered.

The chemistry of the grains and especially the isotope composition should give clues into the source of material for the GMC from which the solar system formed.

I find it intriguing that a meteorite that fell to Earth half a century ago is still capable of providing new insights into planetary formation and interstellar chemistry.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: davenn and Klystron
Ophiolite said:
I'm not quite sure what you are asking. We have known of the existence of inclusions within meteorites that avoided melting (and "clock resetting") for two or three decades. All of these are, necessarily, older than the 4.57 billion year age of the solar system. This Murchison example is the oldest yet discovered.

The chemistry of the grains and especially the isotope composition should give clues into the source of material for the GMC from which the solar system formed.

I find it intriguing that a meteorite that fell to Earth half a century ago is still capable of providing new insights into planetary formation and interstellar chemistry.
I was amazed when I read material that predated the sun by several billion years had been identified.
I have read about the Murchison from an organics pov but was not aware of material that ancient.
 
pinball1970 said:
Oldest material found on earth?
This popped up in live science
https://www.livescience.com/oldest-material-on-earth.html
This on PNAS
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/07/1904573117
Any discussions here? Nothing on Murchison.

Thanks for that, I'm aware of this meteorite, pretty sure I don't have a sample of that one yet.
But I was unaware of the deeper details of this meteorite ...
very informative, specially that second article.

You may now start to see my fascination with meteorites, holding something that has zoomed through space for billions of years
and finally to land on Earth and to be able to hold it. It's very cool :smile:Dave
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Klystron, pinball1970 and berkeman
davenn said:
You may now start to see my fascination with meteorites, holding something that has zoomed through space for billions of years
and finally to land on Earth and to be able to hold it. It's very cool :smile:
Not the outer surface when it first landed. :wink:

Meanwhile, back on track: I've been trying to find a good general review paper on solar grains, thus far without success. This one, Presolar silicate grains: Abundances, isotopic and elemental compositions, and the effects of secondary processing, is the best I can come up with so far. It is thorough in addressing the topics of the title, but has, appropriately, almost nothing to say about the insights into nucleosynthesis that presolar grains present. That is an aspect I had not properly appreciated till sent trawling in Google Scholar by the OP. This paper, Production of Mo and Ru Isotopes in Neutrino-driven Winds: Implications for Solar Abundances and Presolar Grains, is the sort of example I had in mind.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: Dragrath and jim mcnamara
davenn said:
You may now start to see my fascination with meteorites, holding something that has zoomed through space for billions of years
and finally to land on Earth and to be able to hold it. It's very cool :smile:

Dave
Sure is. Of course that’s true of terrestrial rocks as well!
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: davenn
  • #10
Ophiolite said:
Not the outer surface when it first landed. :wink:
Surprisingly, they are quite cool almost cold by the time they hit the ground ( that's from those that have seen and found meteorites from falls)
chemisttree said:
Sure is. Of course that’s true of terrestrial rocks as well!

True, but space rocks from the Moon, Mars and asteroids is just another whole level :wink: Dave
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: pinball1970

Similar threads

  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
4K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 52 ·
2
Replies
52
Views
14K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
4K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
4
Views
4K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K