Formation of the Earth: Studies in India have possibly unravelled the mystery of what is present in the reduce mantle of the Earth! In May of 2012, Maharashtra’s Katol (situated close to Nagpur) had borne witness to a massive meteor shower, even as the villagers missed the show of the light due to it obtaining occurred at noon. However, the accompanying thunder-like noises had brought on rumours that there was an airplane crash, just before the actual lead to was found. Nevertheless, researchers from the Geological Survey of India had visited the little village the next day and collected 30 meteorite fragments. The biggest of these fragments had a weight of about 1 kg, according to a report in IE.
When they performed initial research on the fragments, they identified that the host rock of the shower was primarily made up of olivine, which is an olive-green material and is also the most abundant phase in the upper mantle of the Earth. The upper mantle of the Earth can be reached if it is drilled for about 410 kilometers.
The scientists then looked at the composition of the fragments that they had collected and have possibly solved the mystery about the composition that can be identified in the reduce mantle of the Earth – situated at a depth of about 660 kilometers. Scientists are of the view that additional research of the fragments could lend more insight into the evolution of the Earth from a magma ocean to the rocky planet it is today.
The meteorite fragments have been examined by a group of international scientists, and they published their findings in a paper in PNAS reports this month. In the paper, they reported the occurrence of the mineral bridgmanite, the 1st all-natural occurrence of the mineral to have been reported. The scientists performed various experimental and computational research to show that bridgmanite formed about 80% of the reduce mantle of the Earth.
Now, hunting at the meteorite sample, scientists can discover out how this mineral crystallised when the Earth was in the final stages of its formation.