Archean Micrometeorite (IMAGE)

Monash University

Archean Micrometeorite

Caption

This is one of 60 micrometeorites extracted from 2.7 billion year old limestone, from the Pilbara region in Western Australia. These micrometeorites consist of iron oxide minerals that formed when dust particles of meteoritic iron metal were oxidised as they entered Earth's atmosphere, indicating that the ancient upper atmosphere was surprisingly oxygen-rich.

Credit

Andrew Tomkins

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