Extraterrestrial Remains or Plant Fossils ?: Scientific Discussion on Silicate Glass in the Atacama Desert

Chilean researchers again Exploring silicate glass fragments dating back 12,000 years, scattered over a 75-kilometer stretch of the Atacama Desert. North of Chile. Experts have concluded that the specimens contain small fragments of minerals commonly found in extraterrestrial rocks, but may resemble plant fossils.

A study recently published in the journal Geography, This indicates that the minerals are compatible with the composition of the material returned to Earth by NASA’s Startust Mission, which took particle samples from the comet Wild 2. Therefore, the panel of experts recently decided The minerals found in the samples came from an extraterrestrial object, perhaps an opinion, It exploded near the surface and its remnants melted into the earth.

One of the participants in this study was Pete Schultz, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Earth, Ecology and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. The educator explained, “This is the first time we have this Clear evidence of glass on Earth was generated by heat radiation and wind from a fireball that exploded just above the surface.“Adding to it,” to have such a dramatic effect on such a large area, that it was truly a huge explosion.

The study includes the Fernbank Science Center in Georgia, the University of Santo Tomas in Chile and the Geological and Mining Service of Chile. Chemical analysis of dozens of samples taken from glass deposits in the area, Collected about 75 kilometers east of the Pamba del Tamarugal in the Atacama Desert, it is a plateau between the Andes Mountains in the east and the coastal mountains in the west.

Experts have identified minerals such as hot-decomposed zircons to form the ore-transformed batelite that occurs at temperatures above 1,650 degrees Celsius. “Those minerals tell us that this object has all the signs of a comet.”Said Scott Harris, planetary geologist and co-author of the study at Fernbank Science Center. In his view, “the presence of the same minerals we saw in the Stardust models on these ships is in fact very powerful evidence that what we see is the result of a cometary wind eruption.”

The decision was made by a panel of experts from the Department of Geographical Sciences at the Universidad Católica del Norte and by Millarca Valenzuela, a researcher at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics. The expert explained to Infobae, “We took samples locally with a team of French experts on paleo-magnetism who study the Earth’s magnetic field at different ages, because the minerals depend on where the magnetic north was at the time. They grew. This is a very strong criterion. We dated the deposits below with carbon 14, and our hypothesis was that they were explosions in the air of extraterrestrial objects, but The extraterrestrial assumption with the data obtained went into our pockets”.

“The explanation we find is very earthy”

The researcher explained, “When we looked at the data of the magnetic north of these rocks associated with these magnetic ores, they split into two groups. Two events at different times, And precisely external influences are not going to occur in the same place, with the same event and with the same effect “,” glasses were created at different times, so we had to reject that hypothesis and do a search. A new solution to its problem. “

What they found was, “Layers of a kind of plant containing a lot of silica, and all the exteriors of these glasses are associated with moist places at that time, so we are talking about 12,000 years, so they may have formed a fire in the place where the plants and this type of silica contained fire, which is in the glass, That is, they would have contributed to the creation of these mirrors as a result of the structure of these spaces.The plants and fire were not controlled.The truth is, the explanation for that is very earthy. The other team’s decision was based on the fact that “they discovered objects related to meteorites but not unique to them.”Such as platinum, chromium, nickel or iron.

Valenzuela explained, “We analyzed three large deposits and generally did all of these measurements to evaluate the behavior of the samples, which were immediately divided into two temporal and magnetic field groups, which finally tells you. There is a difference of two thousand years or more between some deposits and others, and this is completely contrary to the hypothesis that an event is an impact.”.

The expert pointed out that both studies “observed the same effects associated with date and temperature, e.g. Things happen to them in an instant And glass is associated not only with those plant deposits, but also with cooked earth, such as baked bricks as a result of the temperature of the clay soil. It was not created in seconds”.

He added, “They have more evidence of their resources in the most subtle things, and we have a more regional vision.” The expert concluded, “Our article was published in 2017, and in their paper they talk a little about our work,” Our team did not consider that this high temperature would affect the local magnetic field, but it was impossible. One compares the same paleo magnetic signal in this cooked soil, which is impossible to generate in seconds, which is due to their very immediate occurring processes. There There are still a lot of discussions, and it’s nice to have a different perspective And the most likely thing is that we will meet in Congress and be able to debate, which is science, ”he concluded.

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