It has long been thought that Earth's precious minerals, such as gold and platinum, have been acquired through a series of minor impacts. However, a recent study by an international team of scientists, led by researchers from Tokyo University, is suggesting that this isn't the case.
The study involved a computer simulation in which it tracked the evolution of planets over their first 300 million years, the longest observation of planetary evolution to ever be conducted. The result suggests that the minerals were produced when Earth collided with another planet, instead of several meteorites raining down on the surface over a long period of time, reported the Daily Mail.
Precious Minerals Found Near The Earth Surface Is a Scientific Mystery
For geologists, it's surprising that our planet has an abundant supply of precious minerals near the surface. These findings are a scientific mystery since they are supposed to form far deeper, just near the Earth's core.
The bizarre mineral positioning is currently explained by the late veneer theory. It states that the Earth's mineral is formed through a series of bombardment by meteorites, icy comets, and other passing objects resulting in the precious metals that are found well above the Earth's crust.
"The theory is that after the core formed there was a meteoric shower that struck the Earth," Mathias Willbold, a geologist at the Imperial College London, said. "These meteorites contained a certain amount of gold and that replenished the Earth's mantle and the continental crust with gold."
Precious Metals May Have Been Produced In A Single Massive Collision
The researchers' imitation of the planet's evolutionary process took into account existing data regarding mineral concentration on Earth, Mars, and the Moon. The study also included current information about the Moon's crater and concluded that a single massive collision could have been responsible for depositing this extra material to Earth in one blow, according to Science World Report.
In addition, the simulation showed that there are far less debris and material floating in the inner solar system than scientists initially believed. If the study holds true, it would put the catastrophic event about 4.5 million years ago and would mean that Earth is a far less volatile planet than what past studies concluded.
