Scanning electron microscope image of zircon crystals in black and white. Each crystal is about 0.1 millimeters in size, which is roughly the thickness of a human hair, and records cosmogenic krypton as a geochemical time archive. The pieces themselves are a range of shades from white to black with lines and patterns on them. The image belongs to the researcher Max Dröllner.
The researcher is photographed on a pale sandy beach in Australia. The landscape is empty and the sky is blue and sunny. There is lots of surf (white) in front of turquoise water and there is land with dark foliage in the background. The beach is strewen with dark seaweed and only the footprints of the researcher (Maximilian Dröllner) are visible on an otherwise smooth beach. He has binoculars and sunglasses but looks wrapped up against the cold or wind.
"Cosmic clock" in tiny crystals reveals rise and fall of Australia’s ancient landscapes
Researchers demonstrate new method to reconstruct how land eroded and sediments moved across continents millions of years ago: www.uni-goettingen.de/en/3240.html...
Research in #PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...