Researchers at the University of Arizona have concluded that fragments of the planet Theia could sink deep into the Earth’s mantle based on the new model.
Two giant rock formations hidden deep in the lowest layer of the Earth’s mantle are known as Large Low Shear Provinces (LLSVP), one below Africa while the other is below the Pacific Ocean. They are so large that they cause a disturbance that weakens the Earth’s magnetic field, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly. Researchers offer many hypotheses about the process of LLSVP formation but have not found specific evidence. Many researchers believe that these may be ancient traces of the impact between Earth and a planet called Theia.
According to popular theory, Theia, the size of Mars, crashed into early Earth 4.5 billion years ago, in which large debris from Theia and possibly the entire Earth split off. , becoming a Moon rotating around Earth today. However, researchers don’t know what happened to the rest of Theia. Will it be destroyed or will it drift in space? Some experts believe that the nuclei of the two early planets could merge into one. The chemical metabolism produced by fusion can make life easier to take shape.
According to a new model developed by researchers at the University of Arizona (ASU), LLSVP could be an ancient fragment of an extremely dense, iron-rich mantle on the planet Theia, sinking deep into the Earth’s mantle when the two planets. and be buried for billions of years.
“The giant collision hypothesis is one of the most tested models of the Moon’s formation, but no one has found direct evidence for the existence of the colliding planet Theia,” the team said. Qian Yuan, a doctoral student specializing in coating dynamics at ASU, said. “We demonstrate that Theia’s mantle can be several percent denser than Earth’s, allowing material to flow into the lowest layer of the Earth’s mantle, accumulating as thermochemical masses and creating the LLSVP “.
While speculation that LLSVP may be Theia’s fragment has been around for many years, the new study is the most comprehensive. The research results will be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. In addition to the mantle model, the results are consistent with previous studies, showing that the chemical traces associated with LLSVP are as old as the collision with the planet Theia.
