Earth and Saturn
Melbourne: Saturn’s rings are one of the most famous and fascinating features of the solar system. Earth may have once had something similar. A research published last week in ‘Earth and Planetary Science Letters’ by Andrew Tomkins (geologist, Monash University) and his team provides evidence that Earth may have once had a ring. A ring formed about 466 million years ago that could solve many mysteries of Earth’s past.
rings around the earth
The research states that about 466 million years ago, many meteorites started hitting the Earth. Due to this impact in a geologically brief period, many craters were formed on the Earth. In this, limestone deposits were also found in Europe, Russia and China, which contained a lot of debris of a type of meteorite. The meteorite debris in these sedimentary rocks indicates that they were exposed to space radiation for a much shorter time than the meteorites falling today. Many tsunamis also occurred during this period, as can be seen in other unusual disorganized sedimentary rocks. The research says that all these features are related to each other.
tendency to potholes
The research describes 21 craters formed due to the impact of meteorites. The researchers wanted to see if there was anything noteworthy in these places. Using models of the movements of the Earth’s tectonic plates in the past, they found out where all these craters were when they were first formed. We found that all the craters are on continents that were close to the equator during this period and none of the craters are in places that were close to the poles. Therefore, all the craters were formed close to the equator. The research revealed that under normal circumstances, asteroids hitting the Earth can hit at any latitude, as we see in the craters formed on the Moon, Mars and Mercury. Therefore, it is very unlikely that all 21 craters of this period would have been formed close to the equator. The research revealed that a large asteroid broke up while colliding with the Earth. Over several tens of millions of years, the debris of the asteroid fell to the Earth, creating craters, sediments and tsunamis.
How the rings are made
Saturn isn’t the only planet with rings. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have tiny rings. Some scientists have even suggested that Mars’ tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, may be the remnants of an ancient ring. When a small body (like an asteroid) passes close to a larger body (like a planet), it is pulled in by gravity. If it gets close enough (within a distance called the Roche limit), the smaller body will break into many small pieces and a few larger pieces. All of these pieces will slowly grow into a ring orbiting the larger body’s equator. Over time, the material in the ring will fall onto the larger pieces, where the larger pieces will form craters. These craters will lie close to the equator. (The Conversation)
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