The British and Irish Meteorite Society

Beautiful meteorites hold clues to solar system’s violent start

What was happening (geologically speaking) on Earth way back when it was a mere babe and being showered with meteorites? Until a time machine is invented, it might be hard to tell….that is, unless you’re Cari Corrigan, geologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

To get a better picture of how Earth’s nascent rocky surface reacted each time it was hit, Corrigan turns to a 4.5 billion-year-old kaleidoscope of elements known as a ureilite (YUR-a-lite) meteorite. Ureilites are made up of olivine and pyroxene (elements containing different levels of magnesium and iron), and carbon―all things also found on Earth ...