[meteorite-list] Tagish Lake Meteorite May Hold Clues To Life
From: Randy Mils <acculabs_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:48:10 2004 Message-ID: <F24gwhDCvY3PUKIYs5C00000da6_at_hotmail.com> <html><div style='background-color:'><DIV> <P>A very important meteorite to science. The human race is very lucky that the Canadian Govt. protected this meteorite from the big, bad collectors and dealers my letting most of it fall into the lake where we can't get it. OOPS!!!!! NOW THEY CAN"T GET IT EITHER.</P> <P>Thank God for Allende and Murchison.</P> <P>Randy..........<BR><BR></P></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>>From: Ron Baalke <BAALKE_at_ZAGAMI.JPL.NASA.GOV> <DIV></DIV>>To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com (Meteorite Mailing List) <DIV></DIV>>Subject: [meteorite-list] Tagish Lake Meteorite May Hold Clues To Life <DIV></DIV>>Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 08:46:49 -0700 (PDT) <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>http://www.rochesternews.com/1007story5.html <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Space Rock May Hold Clues To Life <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>UR professor is part of team studying Tagish Lake meteorite <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>By Matthew Daneman <DIV></DIV>>Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>(Sunday, October 7, 2001) -- The hunk of space rock slammed into the icy <DIV></DIV>>Canadian tundra in early 2000, leaving behind dozens of pounds of rubble. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Now a University of Rochester professor is poring over samples and finding <DIV></DIV>>clues to the origins of life on Earth. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>The meteorite that hit Tagish Lake, British Columbia, is one of the few <DIV></DIV>>"which you could call Rosetta stones," said UR earth sciences professor <DIV></DIV>>Robert Poreda, who is part of a team of scientists working on the project. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>"Ninety-nine percent of meteorites really tell us nothing," he said. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>"They just have normal chemistry and mineralogy." <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>The Tagish Lake meteorite, however, is like amber -- it has tiny bits of <DIV></DIV>>ancient cosmic material trapped inside. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>The research team is looking into the chemical makeup of the meteorite. And <DIV></DIV>>their early results, published in the Sept. 21 issue of Science magazine, <DIV></DIV>>indicate that meteorites such as Tagish Lake's may have played a key role in <DIV></DIV>>the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere, Poreda said. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>He and other scientists theorize that the atmosphere's noble gases -- those <DIV></DIV>>which are inert or nearly so, such as argon and xenon -- are a mix of gas <DIV></DIV>>that percolated up from the Earth's core and originated in meteorites that <DIV></DIV>>smashed into the planet billions of years ago. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>The ratio of noble gases in the atmosphere is different from those found <DIV></DIV>>deep inside the Earth. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>But they more closely match those found in tiny bubbles inside meteorites <DIV></DIV>>like the one at Tagish Lake, Poreda said. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>The team also is examining the Tagish Lake meteorite to see whether it <DIV></DIV>>provides clues to the origin of organic carbon on Earth. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>"The sticking point is to get from simple molecules, like amino acids, to <DIV></DIV>>the complication of life," said Sandra Pizzarello, a chemistry professor at <DIV></DIV>>Arizona State University and another member of the research team. "You just <DIV></DIV>>put the puzzle one piece at a time in place." <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>During its fall, the Tagish Lake meteorite was visible as a bright fireball <DIV></DIV>>throughout the Yukon, Northern British Columbia, parts of Alaska and the <DIV></DIV>>Northwest Territories. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>It's one of three significant carbon-rich meteorite finds in the past 50 <DIV></DIV>>years. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>The others are Allende, which landed in Mexico in 1969, and Murchison, which <DIV></DIV>>hit Australia in the same year. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Show your support at the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund - http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PKAXFNQH7EKCX/058-5084202-7156648 <DIV></DIV>>_______________________________________________ <DIV></DIV>>Meteorite-list mailing list <DIV></DIV>>Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com <DIV></DIV>>http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list <DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href='http://go.msn.com/bql/hmtag_itl_EN.asp'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></html> Received on Mon 08 Oct 2001 12:08:15 PM PDT |
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