A meteorite that fell in the Sahara Desert last year, “EC002,” has been identified by scientists as being about 4.6 billion years old. (Screenshot)
A meteorite that fell in Africa’s Sahara Desert last year, “EC002”, is 4.6 billion years old, older than the Earth and composed of volcanic rocks that must have come from the crust of a protoplanet, according to French and Japanese scientists.
Researchers analyzed it and found that EC002 was once liquid magma, but it cooled and solidified over 100,000 years, forming a 70-pound meteorite that eventually fell to Earth.
No asteroids of similar nature were found, which means the original planet that produced the meteorite has formed part of a larger planet or been smashed into pieces, the researchers said.
More unusually, meteorites usually originate from basaltic crust, but EC002 is composed of volcanic rocks containing sodium, iron, magnesium and silica. EC002 is the oldest magnetic meteorite to date, the team said.
Researchers determined the age of EC002 by studying the rock’s magnesium and aluminum isotopes and found that it formed about 4.566 billion years ago, when the Earth is said to have been born 4.543 billion years ago. The researchers describe EC002 as coarse-grained, tan and beige in appearance, with yellow and green spots.
The study was published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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