Traces Of An Ancient Space Disaster At The Bottom Of The Sea
Physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), when analyzing sediments from the sea floor, found evidence of a supernova explosion that occurred near Earth about 2.5 million years ago.
The researchers’ work was published in the journal “Physical Review Letters”, and a brief report on it appeared on the University’s website. The discovery was made by a group of physicists who studied manganese layers about 2.5 million years old. They were found to contain the isotopes manganese-53 and iron-60.
It is known that such heavy elements are formed during a supernova explosion. This is how stars with more than 10 times the mass of our Sun end their lives. Scientists call such explosions grandiose. An increased concentration of manganese-53 may be evidence of such an event.
The authors of the work believe that the supernova was close enough to Earth, but not so close as to destroy all life on it. However, our planet, according to the data obtained, for several thousand years experienced a “bombardment” of cosmic rays formed during the explosion.
In support of their hypothesis, the scientists presented data from their analysis. In their work, they write that manganese is usually found on Earth as manganese-55. And manganese-53 is formed from cosmic dust, about the same as the dust in the asteroid belt of the Solar system. It continuously settles on the ground, but we do not notice it. These particles are usually too small to see with the naked eye. Compared to meteorites that are clearly visible in the atmosphere, these are just specks of dust.
However, under laboratory conditions, traces of cosmic dust can be found in layers and sediments of various periods and determine when it settled on our planet. In this case, evidence was found in samples taken from the sea floor.
It is in these sediments, using the method of mass spectrometry, the team of authors was able to detect both iron-60 and an increased concentration of manganese-53.n it remained only to determine the age of the sediments. The new analysis also showed that these layers are about 2.5 million years old.
