Explaining the Helium-3 Enrichment of the Eocene-Oligocene Boundary With Gould's Belt

Gould’s Belt, interstellar clouds, and the Eocene–Oligocene helium-3 enhancement

Author:

Rubincam

Abstract:

Drag from hydrogen in the interstellar cloud which formed Gould’s Belt may have sent interplanetary dust particle (IDPs) and small meteoroids with embedded helium to the Earth, perhaps explaining part the helium-3 flux increase seen in the sedimentary record near the Eocene–Oligocene transition. Assuming the Solar System passed through part of the cloud, IDPs in the inner Solar System may have been dragged to Earth, while dust and small meteoroids in the asteroid belt up to centimeter size may have been dragged to the resonances, where their orbital eccentricities were pumped up into Earth-crossing orbits; however, this hypotheses does not explain the Popigai and Chesapeake Bay impacts.