Natural Phenomena
Have you ever smell a scent when the rain is pouring? This “earthy” smell known as petrichor. People usually call it musky or rain's smell. Even though rain itself has no scent. So why it can happen? This smell actually comes from the moistening of the ground. Australian scientists first documented the process of petrichor formation in 1964 and scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology further studied the mechanics of the process in the 2010s. Petrichor is a combination of fragrant chemical compounds. Some are from oils made by plants. The main contributor to petrichor are actinobacteria. These tiny microorganisms can be found in rural and urban areas as well as in marine environments. They decompose dead or decaying organic matter into simple chemical compounds which can then become nutrients for developing plants and other organisms. A byproduct of their activity is an organic compound called geosmin which contributes to the petrichor scent.