Abstract
Recent discoveries seem to indicate a catastrophic history of terrestrial evolution, explicable in terms of Oort cloud disturbance by molecular clouds in the Galactic disc. The problem of Oort cloud replenishment thus assumes considerable significance and reasons are given for supposing comet exchange takes place during actual penetration of molecular clouds. The number density of comets in molecular clouds, thereby implied, seems to suggest primary condensations of <103km in a dense precursor state of spiral arms. If chemical and/or isotopic signatures of comets should indicate an extra-Solar System source, the theory of terrestrial catastrophism may place new constraints on our understanding of the origin of molecular clouds.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alvarez, L.W. 1983 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA80, 627.
Bailey, M.E. 1983 Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc.202, 603.
Bohor, B.F., Foord, E.E., Modreski, P.J. & Triplehorn, D.M. 1984 Science224, 867.
Bonté, Ph., Delacotte, O., Renard, M., Laj, C., Boclet, D., Jehanno, C., & Rocchia, R. 1984 Geophys. Res. Lettr.11, 473.
Bradley, J.P., Brownlee, D.E. & Veblen, D.R. 1983. Nature301, 473.
Cardelli, J. & Böhm-Vitense, E. 1982. Astrophys J.262, 213.
Clayton, D.D. 1984 Astrophys. J.280, 144.
Clube, S.V.M. 1978 Vistas in Astronomy22, 77.
Clube, S.V.M. & Napier, W.M. 1983 Highlights of Astronomy6, 355.
Clube, S.V.M. & Napier, W.M. 1984a. Mon.Not.R.astr.Soc.208, 575.
Clube, S.V.M. & Napier, W.M. 1984b. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. in press.
Doake, C.S.M. 1978 Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.38, 313.
Dorman, J., Evans, S., Nakamura, Y. & Latham, G. 1978 Proc. Lunar Planet Sci Conf9 3615.
Fernandez, J.A. & Jockers, K. 1983 Rep. Prog. Phys.46, 665.
Ganapathy, R. 1983 Science220, 1158.
Golenetskii, S.P., Stepanok, V.V. & Murashov, D.A. 1982 Translated from Astr. Vestu.15, 167, 1981.
Gordon, M.A. and Burton, W.B. 1980 Proc. Third Gregynog Astrophysics Workshop on Giant Molecular Clouds (ed. Solomon et al) 25.
Grossman, L. & Larimer, L. 1974 Rev. Geophys. Space Phys.12 71.
Hills, G.J. 1981 Astron. J.86, 1730.
Hills, G.J. 1982 Astron. J.87, 906.
Holmes, A. 1927 The age of the Earth — An Introduction to Geological Ideas ( Benn, London).
Hughes, D.W. & Daniels, P.A. 1982 Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc.198, 573.
Kyte, F.T. & Zhou, Z., 1980 Meteoritics15, 320.
Kyte, F.T., Zhou, Z. & Wasson, J.T. 1981 Nature292, 417.
Kyte, F.T. & Wasson, J.T. 1984 Meteoritics19, 332.
Lada, C.J. 1983 Star Formation Workshop (Royal Observatory, Edinburgh), in press.
LaViolette, P . 1983 Thesis, Portland State University.
LaViolette, P . 1984 Evidence of High Cosmic Dust Concentrations in Late Pleistocene Polar Ice (20,000-14,000 years B.P.), submitted.
Luck, J.M. & Turekian, K.K. 1983 Science 219, 613.
McCrea W.H . 1978 In ‘The Origin of the Solar System’ (ed. Dermott), 75
McCrea, W.H. 1981 Proc. R. Soc. LondonA375, 1.
McCrea, W.H. & Williams, I.P. 1965 Proc. R. Soc. LondonA287, 143.
Mentense, H.H. 1982 Astrophys Space Sci82, 173.
Napier, W.M. & Clube, S.V.M. 1979 Nature282, 455.
Opik, E.J. 1961 Adv. Astro. Astrophys.2, 219.
Parkin, D.W., Sullivan, R.A.L. & Andrews, J.N. 1977 Nature266, 515
Phillips, A.P., Gondhalekar, P.M. & Pettini, M. 1982 Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc.200, 687.
Rickman, H. & Froeschlé, C. 1980 Moon and Planets 22, 125.
Sekanina, Z. 1976 Icarus 27, 123.
Shoemaker, E.M., Williams, J.G. Helin, E.F. and Wolfe, R.F. 1979 In Asteroids (ed: Gehrels), (ed: Gehrels), 253.
Shoemaker, E.M. & Wolfe, R.F. 1984 Meteoritical Society, abstract submitted.
Solomon, P.M. & Sanders, S.B. 1980 In Proc. Third Gregynog Astrophysics Workshop on Giant Molecular Clouds (ed: Solomon ), 41.
Stohl, J. 1983 In Asteroids, Comets, Meteors (ed: Lagerkvist & Richman, Uppsala ), 419.
Tarafdar, S.P., Prasad, S.S. &, W.T. 1983 Astrophys. J. 267, 156.
Wasserburg, G.J. & Papanastassiou, D.A. 1982 In “Essays in Nuclear Astrophysics” (ed: Barnes), 77.
Whipple, F.L. & Hamid, S.E. 1952 Hellwan Obs. Bull. 41, 1.
Woolfson, M.N. 1979 Quart. J.R. astr. Soc. 20, 97.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 D. Reidel Publishing Company
About this paper
Cite this paper
Clube, S.V.M. (1985). Molecular Clouds: Comet Factories?. In: Carusi, A., Valsecchi, G.B. (eds) Dynamics of Comets: Their Origin and Evolution. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 115. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5400-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5400-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8884-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5400-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive