The Earth is the only terrestrial planet with a large amount of water and a relatively large moon, which stabilises the Earth’s axis. Both were essential for Earth to develop life. The Moon was formed when Earth was hit by a body about the size of Mars, also called Theia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until \nnow, scientists had assumed that Theia originated in the inner solar \nsystem near the Earth. The study, published in the journal Nature \nAstronomy, showed that Theia comes from the outer solar system, and it \ndelivered large quantities of water to Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our approach is \nunique because, for the first time, it allows us to associate the origin\n of water on Earth with the formation of the Moon. To put it simply, \nwithout the Moon there probably would be no life on Earth,” said \nThorsten Kleine, Professor of Planetology at the University of Munster \nin Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Earth formed in the ‘dry’ inner solar system, and\n so it is somewhat surprising that there is water on Earth. From earlier\n studies, it is known that the solar system became structured such that \nthe ‘dry’ materials were separated from the ‘wet’ materials. The \n‘carbonaceous’ meteorites, which are relatively rich in water, come from\n the outer solar system, whereas the drier ‘non-carbonaceous’ meteorites\n come from the inner solar system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While previous studies have \nshown that carbonaceous materials were likely responsible for delivering\n the water to Earth, it was unknown when and how this carbonaceous \nmaterial — and thus the water, came to Earth. “We have used molybdenum \nisotopes to answer this question. The molybdenum isotopes allow us to \nclearly distinguish carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous material, and as \nsuch represent a ‘genetic fingerprint’ of material from the outer and \ninner solar system,” said Gerrit Budde, from University of Munster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\n measurements show that the molybdenum isotopic composition of the Earth\n lies between those of the carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous meteorites,\n demonstrating that some of Earth’s molybdenum originated in the outer \nsolar system. The chemical properties of molybdenum play a key role \nbecause, as it is an iron-loving element, most of the Earth’s molybdenum\n is located in the core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The molybdenum which is accessible \ntoday in the Earth’s mantle, therefore, originates from the late stages \nof Earth’s formation, while the molybdenum from earlier phases is \nentirely in the core,” said Christoph Burkhardt, second author of the \nstudy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The results show, for the first time, that carbonaceous \nmaterial from the outer solar system arrived on Earth late. Researchers \nfound that most of the molybdenum in Earth’s mantle was supplied by the \nprotoplanet Theia, whose collision with Earth 4.4 billion years ago led \nto the formation of the Moon.\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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