Chemical Data Provide Information about Astronomical Events in the Geological Record

Partner Event hosted by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research; William E. Moerner, Hipassia Moura; Moderator: Christian Köberl

Monday, 27 June 2022
07:00 - 08:30 hrs CEST

Abstract

The topic of this discussion event deals with an interdisciplinary approach, linking the fields of chemistry, physics, geosciences, and astronomy/astrophysics, as an example how interconnected the various natural sciences are. This also demonstrates the importance of linking expertise from different fields yields often surprising and unexpected results. Chemical studies (e.g., regarding chemical and isotopic compositions) of terrestrial rocks or rock sequences, as well as extraterrestrial materials such as meteorites or lunar rocks, have been found to record extraterrestrial events, ranging from solar storms to impact events or even nearby supernovae explosions, all of which influenced the geological and biological evolution of the planet Earth.

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