2,900 kilometers below Earth’s crust – scientists have discovered the remains of another planet

Since the 1970s, the most prominent theory of how the Moon formed has been a collision between Earth and Thea 4.5 billion years ago. But despite that, there are still many unanswered questions about how Earth was affected by the collision.

They searched the earth for remains

A team of scientists from the US, China and the UK aims to investigate why there are two large regions in the Earth’s core that show unusually low seismic velocities. So different types of tremors are measured by earthquake signals and collected by stations around the world.

These regions are 2900 kilometers below the Earth’s surface and make up more than 30 percent of its mass.

– These places can tell a lot about Earth’s early history. This affects the magnetic field, which is important for Earth’s evolution and has a strong connection to volcanism and major mass extinctions, says Qian Yuan, a geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology and one of the authors. Study in nature.

Recreated the crash

To get answers to their questions, they built data models based on information from seismic stations. The results turned out to partially support the theory that this collision occurred and formed our Moon, and partly that material from Thea accumulated into mountains deep in the Earth’s crust. The remnants of Thea were found to be up to 3.5 percent denser than Earth’s own mantle, which explains why the vibrations were so different.

Research increases understanding of how our solar system formed and how celestial bodies may form.

– If it happened here it could have happened in other solar systems too. Alexis Brandaker says it’s an important piece of the puzzle for understanding how the Moon formed and how life evolved on a planet.

Play the clip to see how Thea’s mantle was thrown to Earth.