{"id":29284,"date":"2025-09-16T10:15:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T02:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&p=29284"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:16:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T02:16:51","slug":"earths-history-written-in-the-stars-zircon-crystals-reveal-galactic-influence","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/earths-history-written-in-the-stars-zircon-crystals-reveal-galactic-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth\u2019s history written in the stars: zircon crystals reveal galactic influence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Curtin University research has uncovered a striking link between the structure of our galaxy and the evolution of Earth\u2019s crust, showing its development was shaped by the impact of meteorites during its journey through the Milky Way and not solely through internal processes as was previously widely considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, published in journal \u2018Physical Review Research\u2019, reveals that the chemistry of tiny ancient crystals in Earth\u2019s crust may capture the rhythm of meteorite impacts during our solar system\u2019s passage through the Milky Way\u2019s vast spiral arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead researcher Professor Chris Kirkland, from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group<\/a> within Curtin\u2019s Frontier Institute for Geoscience Solutions in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the work provides new evidence linking Earth\u2019s ancient geological record with the large-scale structure of the Milky Way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTiny, durable minerals called zircon crystals provided a unique archive of Earth\u2019s interaction with the galaxy,\u201d Professor Kirkland said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy looking at chemical changes in zircon crystals and comparing them with maps of gas in the Milky Way, we saw the changes line up with times that our Solar System passed through the galaxy\u2019s spiral arms, which are densely packed with stars and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn these crowded regions, extra gravitational forces may have disturbed icy comets at the edge of our Solar System, knocking some onto paths that sent them crashing into Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe resulting impacts released enormous energy, melting parts of Earth\u2019s surface and producing more complex magmas, especially when interacting with water-rich environments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Kirkland said the study\u2019s findings open the door to an exciting new frontier, where geology can be directly connected with discoveries in astronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur research reveals that Earth\u2019s geological evolution cannot be understood in isolation from the broader galactic environment,\u201d Professor Kirkland said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt suggests that astrophysical processes on the scale of the Milky Way may have directly influenced the continents beneath our feet and the conditions that made life possible, ushering in a new era of astro-geological science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full research paper, titled \u2018From the grain to galactic scale; Milky Way neutral hydrogen and terrestrial zircon oxygen support coupling of astrophysical and geological processes over deep time\u2019<\/em>, can be found online here: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1103\/98c3-d9j2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Curtin University research has uncovered a striking link between the structure of our galaxy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4307,"featured_media":29286,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"7666,6794,4582,5256,8047,5628","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":81,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,4],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-29284","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-science","category-research"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":[24386,24387]},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"experts":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Milky_Way_-_Taken_from_Australia_-_25_second_exposure_at_ISO_800-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Lucien","last_name":"Wilkinson","display_name":"Lucien Wilkinson"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/29284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/29284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29284"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=29284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}