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Multiple Cosmic Impacts 790,000 Years Ago

Tektites of different shapes from Australia. The force of the impact hurled the glass bodies thousands of kilometres. Some left the earth's atmosphere and acquired their flanged edge on re-entry into the atmosphere (bottom left). Credit: © Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University

Tektites of different shapes from Australia. The force of the impact hurled the glass bodies thousands of kilometres. Some left the earth’s atmosphere and acquired their flanged edge on re-entry into the atmosphere (bottom left). Credit: © Institute of Earth Sciences, Heidelberg University

~790,000 years ago there were multiple cosmic impacts on Earth with global consequences. Geoscientists from Heidelberg University reached this conclusion after dating tektites from various parts of the world and studied several of such rock glasses, which originated during impacts of asteroids or comets. The dating method is based on naturally occurring isotopes that allowed them to date tektites more accurately than ever...

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