Inside the fossilized molluscs, the scientist discovered perfectly smooth glass balls, the origin of which baffled researchers - they look like an industrial product.
Something strange has been found inside the fossilized molluscs from the Tamiami Formation in Florida: dozens of tiny silica-rich glass balls no more than a few millimeters in size. These “beads” are usually formed by heat and can be created by volcanic or industrial activity - but in this case there is one big problem.
The Tamiami Formation does not contain volcanic rocks and is not even located near a volcanic source. And the fossils it contains date back to the Plio-Pleistocene, between 5 million and 12,000 years ago - long before the advent of industry.
So how did the mysterious balls appear? According to the researchers, most likely it was an ancient meteorite that crashed into the Earth. It crumbled from overheating and left a lot of debris in the atmosphere, which cooled down and solidified into tiny glass balls called microtektites before falling to the ground.
These “beads” came as a surprise to scientists. Researcher Mike Meyer, who was a student at the University of South Florida at the time, searched for fossils for the shells of microscopic single-celled organisms called benthic foraminifera. However, while searching, he suddenly began to find small glass balls, mostly inside the shells of the southern kuah (Mercenaria campechiensis).
In total, he collected 83 "beads", which then lay in his box for 10 years. But when the scientist nevertheless decided to study his find more closely, he had to compare it with samples of volcanic rock from neighboring regions. He still does not rule out the fact that the balls may be of volcanic origin, but the likelihood of this is extremely small. Despite the fact that even after the death of the mollusk, the shell is still slightly open for some time, it quickly slams shut - it is pressed to the ground by sediment. After that, everything that was inside remains protected from external penetration for thousands of years.
In addition, the form and chemical composition of the substance are not similar to particles of industrial coal ash - a hypothesis with an artificial origin does not hold water. As a result, only micrometeorites remain, but they are not suitable either, since there is a lot of sodium in the "beads" - and it tends to burn out when the meteorite passes through the dense layers of the atmosphere and gets hot.
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Until now, scientists cannot accurately name the nature of the mysterious find. At present, the assumption of microtektites remains the most probable. However, the caveat is that the molluscs were found in four different layers within the fossilized massif, which means they died in four different, spaced time periods. The researchers suggest that the tektite layer has been eroded over the years, which in turn indicates a regular impact on the tectonic platform of Florida, about which scientists are completely unknown. Perhaps in the future they will finally be able to unwind this tangle of secrets and we will finally get the opportunity to find out for sure where these mysterious smooth balls came from.
Vasily Makarov