Chris Kirkland is a geologist at the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and leads the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at Curtin University in Western Australia.

He recently co-authored a paper that analysed the composition of mineral grains that formed Earth’s ancient crust to draw conclusions about the relationship between the formation of Earth’s crust and our solar system’s journey through the Milky Way galaxy.

In this podcast, Chris speaks to host Liam McAneny about the work being done on Earth by geologists and its relevance to unlocking the secrets of our planet’s place in the galaxy.

They also discuss the effect of meteorite impacts on the formation of Earth’s early crust and the special role played by the Oort cloud in this process.