Chinese myth lends name to discovery
Source: Xinhua |
June 28, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
US scientists have discovered a previously unknown substance in the Allende meteorite believed to be among the oldest minerals in the solar system.
The titanium oxide is named panguite after Pan Gu, the giant in ancient Chinese mythology who created the world by separating heaven and Earth from chaos.
The denomination is "in allusion to the mineral with an ultra-refractory origin, being among the first solid materials formed in the solar system," Chi Ma, a senior scientist at the California Institute of Technology, said.
The mineral and its name have been approved by the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification.
A paper outlining the discovery and the properties of the new mineral will be published in the July issue of the American Mineralogist journal and is available online now.
"Panguite is an especially exciting discovery since it is not only a new mineral, but also a material previously unknown to science," said Ma, who also serves as director of Caltech's Geological and Planetary Sciences division.
Studies of panguite and other newly discovered refractory minerals are continuing in an effort to learn more about the conditions under which they formed and subsequently evolved.
"Such investigations are essential to understand the origins of our solar system," Ma said.
In 1969, an exploding fireball over Mexico scattered thousands of pieces of meteorite across the state of Chihuahua. The Allende meteorite is the largest carbonaceous chondrite, a diverse class of primitive meteorites, ever found on Earth.
The titanium oxide is named panguite after Pan Gu, the giant in ancient Chinese mythology who created the world by separating heaven and Earth from chaos.
The denomination is "in allusion to the mineral with an ultra-refractory origin, being among the first solid materials formed in the solar system," Chi Ma, a senior scientist at the California Institute of Technology, said.
The mineral and its name have been approved by the International Mineralogical Association's Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification.
A paper outlining the discovery and the properties of the new mineral will be published in the July issue of the American Mineralogist journal and is available online now.
"Panguite is an especially exciting discovery since it is not only a new mineral, but also a material previously unknown to science," said Ma, who also serves as director of Caltech's Geological and Planetary Sciences division.
Studies of panguite and other newly discovered refractory minerals are continuing in an effort to learn more about the conditions under which they formed and subsequently evolved.
"Such investigations are essential to understand the origins of our solar system," Ma said.
In 1969, an exploding fireball over Mexico scattered thousands of pieces of meteorite across the state of Chihuahua. The Allende meteorite is the largest carbonaceous chondrite, a diverse class of primitive meteorites, ever found on Earth.
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