According to anew research, much of the gold on Earth came to the planet from out space after a big explosion of meteorites around 4.3billion years ago.
Scientists say that they have evidence t prove that Earth's reserves of precious metals including gold and platinum landed on earth as a result of meteorite strikes. Researchers from the University of Bristol studied four-billion- year-old rocks from Greenland and found evidence of huge meteorite bombardments that created deposits.
"Our work shows that most of the precious metals on which our economies and many key industrial processes are based have been added to our planet by lucky coincidence when the Earth was hit by about 20 billion billion tonnes of asteroidal material," said Dr Matthias Willbold, from the university's School of Earth Sciences.
Scientists earlier believed that when the Earth was formed, all of its metals sank into the core and left no traces on the surface. But earlier researchers have found that precious metals are tens of thousands of times more abundant in the Earth's silicate mantle than anticipated. It was believed that this was due to "cataclysmic meteorite shower".
Dr Willbold and Professor Tim Elliott of the Bristol Isotope Group studied tungsten isotopes in rocks collected by Professor Stephen Moorbath of the University of Oxford. They said that differences in isotopes in the ancient rocks and those made today are evidence of massive bombardments.
The latest was published in the journal, Nature.
Scientists say that they have evidence t prove that Earth's reserves of precious metals including gold and platinum landed on earth as a result of meteorite strikes. Researchers from the University of Bristol studied four-billion- year-old rocks from Greenland and found evidence of huge meteorite bombardments that created deposits.
"Our work shows that most of the precious metals on which our economies and many key industrial processes are based have been added to our planet by lucky coincidence when the Earth was hit by about 20 billion billion tonnes of asteroidal material," said Dr Matthias Willbold, from the university's School of Earth Sciences.
Scientists earlier believed that when the Earth was formed, all of its metals sank into the core and left no traces on the surface. But earlier researchers have found that precious metals are tens of thousands of times more abundant in the Earth's silicate mantle than anticipated. It was believed that this was due to "cataclysmic meteorite shower".
Dr Willbold and Professor Tim Elliott of the Bristol Isotope Group studied tungsten isotopes in rocks collected by Professor Stephen Moorbath of the University of Oxford. They said that differences in isotopes in the ancient rocks and those made today are evidence of massive bombardments.
The latest was published in the journal, Nature.
