Evidence Of Alien Matter Found In South Africa

Scientists have made a new discovery after finding traces of alien organic matter buried within volcanic sediment in South Africa. According to the new study, this is the first time extraterrestrial traces have been found in rocks from Earth.

The discovery was uncovered by astrobiologist Frances Westall of France’s CNRS Center for Molecular Biophysics and her team. In their study published in the scientific journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, they explained that the extraterrestrial organic matter they discovered came from meteorites that crashed on Earth over 3.3 billion years ago.

The samples that Westall and her team studied were found in the Josefsdal Chert volcanic deposit, which is located in the Makhonjwa Mountains in north-eastern South Africa. By using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, they studied a 3.3 billion-year-old rock layer that showed anomalous signals.

According to Westall, one of the signals revealed meteorite fragments containing organic compounds within the rock layer, which was about 2 millimeters thick. The other signal that her team studied showed signs of iron, nickel nanoparticles and chromium. The scientists explained that these elements normally do not appear in terrestrial rock, which strongly suggests that they originated from somewhere else.

Westall’s co-author, chemical engineer Didier Gourier of PSL Research University in Paris, noted that these elements are formed when extraterrestrial objects enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The scientists theorized that as the meteorites carrying extraterrestrial carbon entered Earth, they mixed with the volcanic ash clouds in the atmosphere. This led to the preservation of the extraterrestrial matter with the newly formed elements.

“This is the very first time that we have found actual evidence for extraterrestrial carbon in terrestrial rocks,” Westall told New Scientist.

Although further studies are yet to be conducted on the new discovery, the scientists’ findings offer new light to the concept behind the formation of life on Earth. For years, scientific experts have been debating on the origins of organic life on the planet. The new study submitted by Westall and her team could provide new evidence in the link between the evolution of life and the introduction of alien organic matter from space.