Crystal-studded space rock found in the Sahara may rewrite the history of the early solar system

By Evgenii Krestianinov
published about 14 hours ago
The rocks were found in May 2020 in the Erg Chech sand sea, in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria.



Achondrite meteorite Erg Chech 002.
(Image credit: Steve Jurvetson / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

In May 2020, some unusual rocks containing distinctive greenish crystals were found in the Erg Chech sand sea, a dune-filled region of the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria.

On close inspection, the rocks turned out to be from outer space: lumps of rubble billions of years old, left over from the dawn of the solar system.

They were all pieces of a meteorite known as Erg Chech 002, which is the oldest volcanic rock ever found, having melted long ago in the fires of some now-vanished ancient protoplanet.

More:
https://www.space.com/space-rock-crystal-sahara-earl-solar-system