The Cosmological Source of Rocks & Minerals

1. The Cosmological Source of Rocks & Minerals Yes, we are all star dust. Even Gary! K-W Gem and Mineral Club

2. References • “Before there was chemistry: The origin of the elements” by Neil Glickstein, online. JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu, Vol. 76 No 3 March 1999. • Meteorites, a presentation to the K-W Gem and Mineral Club by Jeffrey Shallit in 2005. • Stellar Evolution … http:www.astunit.com/tutorials/stellar.htm • The Origin of the Elements, edited by David Alles, Western Washington University, March 13, 2005. online. • Wikipedia (online) for Hertzprung-Russell diagram • Waving at the neighbours, the search for extra-terrestrial life. The Economist, Feb. 25th to Mar. 3rd, 2006.

3. And in the beginning there was … • … a singularity . • Suddenly there was a Big Bang … • which included a massive Inflation within trillionths of a second • … Meanwhile, back to the future, we have Earth …

4. Yikes! Chemistry!

5. Observed abundance of baryonic matter: ~ 73% H ~ 25% He < 2% all other

7. Basic Origin of Elements 4 main sources: • Primordial Nucleosynthesis (Big Bang) = Hydrogen, Deuterium, Helium and some Lithium • Small Stellar Nucleosynthesis (fusion in Solar-type Stars) = more Helium … plus Beryllium, Boron and Carbon … As carbon life-forms, we are indeed star dust! • Massive Stellar Nuc. (fusion in massive stars) = Oxygen to Iron • Supernovae (exploding massive stars) = all other naturally occurring elements heavier than Iron (ie the metals and rare earths)

8. Parts of a Solar-type Star

9. Nuclear Equations When condensing clouds ignite into thermonuclear Reactions, around >10^7 K, a star is born! Huge numbers of protons (H) are fused in our Sun by the following process every second: At temperatures exceeding 10^8 K, helium nuclei will fuse to form carbon: Subsequently, carbon and helium react to form oxygen: With increasing temperatures in the core of the star, heavier elements form:

10. Life Cycle of Stars Stars condense from “birthing” nebulae and die as “funerary” nebulae. The “life steps” taken depend on the mass of the star: 0.1 – 1.4 solar masses = condense, main sequence star of Hertzprung-Russell Diagram (ie like our Sun). Core condenses and outer layers expand to a giant star, possible nebula, ending as white dwarf. 1.4 – 8.0 = much faster version of above, core includes iron and implodes, which is followed by a large rebound explosion (supernova) > 8.0 = same as above, much faster, but implosion does not end as explosion. Instead it keeps collapsing and becoming denser until a black hole is formed.

11. Hertzsprung -Russell Diagram

13. Subatomic Particles In Atoms

15. Cat’s Eye Nebula: A solar-type star in its death-throes

16. The Crab Nebula: a supernova explosion Crab Nebula: a supernova

17. Basic Elements that Geologists Love? • Hydrogen and Helium are core to our natural gases • Carbon can be manifested as coal, graphite and diamonds … or as geologists! • Oxygen shows up as water, ice (key to Quaternary studies), Ilmenite, titanium oxides etc. • Sulphur underlies our many sulphates • Magnesium can be found in Olivine • Iron is broadly represented within base metal ores, pyrite, and like other elements, as interstitial atoms in silicates and other minerals

19. Some Earth-bound Evidence of Cosmological Origins?(Thank you Jeff!) • Meteorites! – Stony, Stony-Iron and Iron types • Iron meteorites are thought to be cores of asteroids • Stony-Iron are thought to be a mixture of core and mantle of asteroids • Achondrites may come from crust and upper mantle of asteroids

20. So, Rock on! The End 