Stardust from the seafloor: researchers find traces of supernovae in sediments from the deep sea

25.08.2020

An international team with participation of the Isotope Physics Group describes in PNAS the analysis of deep-sea sediment samples taken about 1000 km off the southwestern tip of Australia. Their result: The Earth has been flying through an interstellar cloud with supernova tracks for at least 33,000 years.

Articles: 

- University of Vienna News (german)

- ORF Science (german)

Original ressource:

60Fe deposition during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene echoes past supernova activity. A. Wallner, J. Feige, L. K. Fifield, M. B. Froehlich, R. Golser, M. A. C. Hotchkis, D. Koll, G. Leckenby, M. Martschini, S. Merchel, S. Panjkov, S. Pavetich, G. Rugel, S. G. Tims

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2020, 201916769; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1916769117

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