The Earth will contain the remains of the planetary collision that formed the Moon

Discover an interdisciplinary team of scientists Two “anomalous” areas inside the Earth Which they attribute to the remains The collision occurred about 4.5 billion years ago The moon formed.

The discovery was published by the magazine on Wednesday natureIt is based on computer simulations conducted by an interdisciplinary team of scientists from research centers in the United States, China and the United Kingdom.

His hypothesis indicates that A Protoplanet -a kind of planetary ’embryo’ – known as… Thea collided withPrimordial Earth(Gaia) about 4.5 billion years ago, which led to the formation of different regions in the Earth’s mantle.

The Moon could have formed from the remains of this giant impact, while Theia’s remains were buried deep in the Earth’s mantle; Although researchers caution that there is still no direct evidence of Theia’s existence.

Scientists came to this conclusion while searching for an explanation for the fact that two large regions of the Earth’s mantle have an unusually slow seismic velocity at a depth of about 2,900 kilometers, and that their material lies between… 2 and 3.5% density From the surrounding Earth’s mantle.

These two anomalous regions in relation to the heterogeneity of the rest of the Earth’s mantle extend for thousands of kilometers at its base, one of them under the African tectonic plate and the other under the Pacific tectonic plate.

The authors suggest that dense materials may represent… Buried relics Material from Theia’s mantle that was preserved deep within the proto-Earth after the giant collision that led to the formation of the Moon.

Qian Yuansaid a geodynamics researcher at Caltech and lead author of the work France Press agency It is “very strange” that no evidence of Theia’s influence has been found.

During a class taught by a planetary scientist on this mystery, Yuan first got a glimpse of the answer: “Where is the impactor? My answer is: It is on Earth.”

The formation of the Moon has been a mystery for several generations of scientists.

currently, dominant theory It indicates that during the last stages of the Earth’s growth, about 4.5 billion years ago, there were… Giant collision between early Earth (Gaia) and a protoplanet The size of Mars known as Theia.

Numerical simulations have indicated this The Moon is supposed to have formed from debris resulting from the collision It probably inherited material from Theia, primarily, while Gaia, because of its much greater mass, was only “slightly contaminated” with material from Theia.

Since Gaia and Theia were relatively independent compositions made up of different materials, the researchers thought that the Moon – which is dominated by Tian matter – and the Earth – which is dominated by Gaian matter – must have different compositions.

However, high-resolution isotope measurements have revealed this The compositions of the Earth and the Moon are remarkably similarWhich calls into question the traditional theory of the formation of the moon.

The researchers concluded that this discovery will be key to understanding the initial state of the Earth and even the formation of nearby planets.

(With information from EFE and AFP)