At one time, Earth may have had a new ring similar to Saturn's. Studying According to the theory, the formation of space rocks may have led to many meteorites hitting the surface of our planet. Life Sciences.
The formation may have cast shadows along the equator, which could have caused a global cooling process by blocking sunlight. Meanwhile, the rocks that make up the ring would have periodically fallen onto our planet's surface, and over the course of a few million years, they all ended up crashing into Earth.
The theory is strengthened by the fact that, according to the testimony of rock layers, the number of meteorite impacts increased dramatically in this era, and sedimentary rocks from that time contain an exceptionally high percentage of meteorite debris, experts said. Interestingly, the vast majority of meteorite impacts in this era occurred near the equator, which is incredibly unlikely if the ring around the Earth did not exist.
Despite the evidence, scientists stressed that more research is needed to clearly support their theory.
