* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Komatiites

Blobrana · L

An Australian study has concluded that a "late veneer" of the Earth's platinum came from extraterrestrial sources.
Scientists at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have concluded in a report, where the search for platinum is used as a guide to the availability of nickel, that study of the platinum content of lava flows called komatiites had changed markedly over time.

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Blobrana · L

A geological controversy over how a 2,700-million-year-old rock was formed has been solved using synchrotron technology, an international team reports.
A rare form of magmatic rock known as komatiite was formed in the Earth's mantle at temperatures around 1700 degrees Celcius in the Archaean age, more than 2,700 million years ago, according to report in the latest Nature journal.
Australian co-author Leonid Danyushevsky, at the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence in Ore Deposits at the University of Tasmania, said the finding settles a long-disputed controversy over the volcanic rock's origin.
There are two opposing theories on the origin of komatiites, which were generally formed in the first half of the Earth's history.

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