Tiny crystals in Earth’s crust have captured the movement of the Milky Way’s spiral arms

Dr Phil Sutton has collaborated with Prof Chris Kirkland, a geologist at the University of Curtin, Australia, to determine that the Solar System passing through the spiral arms of the Milky Way can be linked to changes seen in crystals in the Earth’s crust. Their research used measurements of zircon oxygen isotopes, which record the amount of melting in the Earth’s crust and how much the crust interacted with water from the Earth’s surface. This supports the theory that when the Solar System passed through the spiral arms of the Milky Way, it pushed more bodies like comets and asteroids towards Earth, increasing the number of impacts on Earth at these times and melting the Earth’s crust. Therefore, the evolution of Earth was likely influenced by our Galaxy at large! They have published their work in Physical Review Research and written about their discovery in The Conversation. It has also been reported in Forbes.