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SUMMARY:Cosmic dust as a planetary fertiliser: collisional evolution of th
 e prebiotic Earth - Craig Walton (Cambridge\, Earth Sciences)
DTSTART:20221101T130000Z
DTEND:20221101T140000Z
UID:TALK184955@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Emily Sandford
DESCRIPTION:The Earth likely experienced a greater rate of collisions with
  extraterrestrial matter in early Solar System history than it does today.
  This is highly relevant for the chemical origins of life\, given that man
 y types of extraterrestrial matter are enriched in life-​limiting elemen
 ts relative to Earth's crustal rocks. Unpicking this relationship requires
  us to obtain some constraints on the dynamical evolution of the Solar Sys
 tem (i.e.\, collision rates between asteroids and between asteroids and Ea
 rth)\, the chemistry of extraterrestrial matter accreted by Earth\, and th
 e subsequent processing of that matter on the surface of prebiotic Earth. 
 We have investigated each of these topics\, leveraging isotopic analyses o
 f meteorites from asteroids that experienced collisions\, geochemical meas
 urements of the fine-​grained cosmic dust particles that those collision
 s generated\, and modelling of extraterrestrial matter processing on the s
 urface of prebiotic Earth. Our combined approach leads us to better unders
 tanding of the role and relevance of collisional activity in seeding plane
 ts with the elements needed for life\, suggesting that cosmic dust in part
 icular represents a viable and flexible planetary fertiliser.
LOCATION:Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email
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