Has the meteorite brought new disease to Earth?
Pastor Dale Morgan
Has the meteorite brought new disease to Earth?*
25/ 09/ 2007
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Tatyana Sinitsyna) - The recent fall of
the meteorite in the district of Desaguadero in Puno, Peru, has already
evoked many rumors and speculations.
Eye-witnesses have reported that the enflamed ball collided with the
Earth and went inside to the depth of six meters, leaving a crater of
about 30 meters with a gushing fountain of boiling water. After some
time people felt an acrid smell and began to suffer from nausea and
headaches.
A representative from the Peruvian Health Ministry hastened to blame
this on poisonous fumes from fragments of meteorites, which contain cyanide.
Dr. Mikhail Nazarov, head of the meteoritics laboratory ay the Vernadsky
Institute of Geo- and Analytical Chemistry, said that the reports from
Peru describe phenomena typical for meteorites. But he pointed out that
reports of the meteorite-linked "strange disease" sounded dubious: "In
the past 250 years, 102 large meteorites have been registered; 70 of
these have been found and 50 are kept in the Meteorite Collection of the
Russian Academy of Sciences. But none have had any adverse effect on
human health."
No consequences were produced even by the unique Sikhote-Alin Fall
(February 12, 1947), when a whole stream of meteorites with a general
mass of up to a hundred tons crushed the Ussuri taiga in the Far East,
covering a territory of 35 square km.
There is no information about any meteorite-related negative influence
on human health. All in all, there are about a thousand registered
meteorites.
"To the knowledge of scientists, the meteorite substance is harmless and
sterile compared with the earth. No microbes, bacteria or
extra-terrestrial viruses have been found on meteorites. As for
radioactivity, it is much stronger in granite," Nazarov said.
This is how he explained the events in Peru: "A powerful shock from the
meteorite could have caused cracks in the ground and upset the ground
water circulation. As a result, dirty waters from rivers and wells with
poisonous gases could come into play." He said it's highly unlikely for
a meteorite to smell like lead or silver. These substances exist in
meteorites in negligible amounts, if at all. For the most part,
meteorites are formed of iron sulfides. It has been observed that fallen
meteorites emit a sulfur smell, but it wouldn't poison anyone.
In Peru, the meteorite might have "targeted" iron ore deposits, which
emitted their fumes. But the scientist is convinced that this is a local
and temporary effect.
The Earth's atmosphere acts as a shield protecting the planet from
invading space objects. They enter it at the minimal speed of 11 km/s.
As a result of deceleration, they lose speed and evaporate, turning into
space dust or fall on the ground as meteorites - everything depends on
their initial size. They may weigh from several grams to dozens of tons.
Meteorites seem alike but they are different in composition - iron,
stone or mixed (iron plus stone). Some come from the asteroid belt,
others from planets; for example, lunar and Martian meteorites are
fragments of rock from the Moon and Mars.
Nazarov explained that there are about 20 types of meteorites. Small
ones (like the Peruvian) can do only mechanical damage. But big
meteorites can lead to global environmental disasters. In the Mesozoic
Age, 65 million years ago, all life, including the dinosaurs, was killed
as a result of a big object (or objects) from space falling on the Earth.
The falling of meteorites is a sphere of the elements. Scientists are
trying to keep an eye on asteroids but they change their orbits from
time to time. Moreover, it is next to impossible to change the
trajectory of a meteorite to avoid its clash with the Earth.
Nazarov says that the Peruvian meteorite is not very big. A 30m crater
is considered small - some craters reach huge dimensions running into
many kilometers.
What happens next? Scientists will extract fragments of the meteorite,
study their geo-chemical composition, measure the weight, classify the
type and register the coordinates of its downfall. Then the meteorite
will be named (usually after the place on which it crashed). Thus,
arriving on the Earth, a guest from space receives a kind of passport,
which gets it registered in the Meteorite Society. Once this is done, we
know all about it.