Life on Earth, which is thought to have originated in the ocean regarding 3.8 billion years ago, has continued to prosper until today, repeating evolution and extinction in line with changes in the environment.
A team of scientists from the Danish National Space Center (DTU Space), Denmark’s largest space research institution,Changes in biodiversity linked to supernova explosionsI am proposing an interesting idea that
[▲ An image of cosmic rays generated by a supernova explosion pouring into the ocean (Credit: Henrik Svensmark, DTU Space)]
A team of scientistsChanges in marine biodiversity over the past 500 million yearsand the occurrence of supernovae in the vicinity of the solar system.correlationI believe there is Henrik Svensmark, author of the study, said one of the effects of supernovae isEarth’s climate might changepointing out.
The process is as follows. First, when a star with a mass more than eight times the mass of the sun causes a supernova explosion,A large amount of energetic particles are emitted as cosmic rayswill be These energetic particles eventually reach the solar system, where they enter the Earth’s atmosphere and ionize the atmosphere, helping to create cloud-forming aerosols.
Clouds affect the temperature of the climate by controlling the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth’s surface.In other words, a supernova explosion is effectivelyPart of the Earth’s climate change cycleIt is said that
To provide evidence for this idea, the scientists correlated data showing changes in biodiversity found in fossils of organisms that lived in ancient shallow waters with data showing supernova frequency. Analyzed.
During periods when there are many cosmic rays arriving from supernovae, the temperature difference between the polar regions and the equator increases,cold weatherwill beDifferences in temperature create strong winds, which stir the oceans and provide the water needed for marine life.nutrientsto the waters along the continental shelf.
The concentration of nutrients brought to marine organisms by circulationbiological productivity (fertility of organisms)left and right. The remains of dead organisms sink to the seafloor as sediments and become fossils, which are preserved as records of past biological activities. They compared the biodiversity information from this fossil with the supernova frequency.
[▲Relativefrequencyofsupernovae[黒曲線]and genus-level biodiversity of marine organisms in shallow waters at the marine margin[茶色から濃い緑色までの曲線]Figure comparing with. Abbreviations for geological time divisions at the top are Cm Cambrian, O Ordovician, S Silurian, D Devonian, C Carboniferous, P Permian, Tr Triassic, J Jurassic, K Cretaceous, Pg Paleogene epoch, Ng Neogene. The unit of the time axis at the bottom is “million years ago” (Credit: Henrik Svensmark, DTU Space)]
They found that biodiversity in shallow marine environments also increases during periods of high supernova explosion frequency. From this result, it is speculated that supernovae have changed biodiversity by affecting the bioproductivity of the Earth’s oceans.
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If this hypothesis is confirmed, there is a new recognition of a link that exists between distant astrophysical phenomena and the evolution of life on Earth.
Source
- Image Credit: Henrik Svensmark, DTU Space
- UNIVERSE TODAY – Linking Supernovae to Life Changes
- Wiley Online Library – A persistent influence of supernovae on biodiversity over the Phanerozoic
Sentence/Tetsuro Yoshida
