As of recently, scientists have gotten hold of the first-ever long section of rocks that lies between the Earth’s outer crust and the extremely hot inner core. However, we do not know the specific date of when they recovered these rocks.
One might wonder how they were able to get these rocks, since they aren’t accessible unless you’re looking at really deep parts of the ocean. Well, that’s what they did.They were able to locate and take these rocks to the lab using an ocean drilling vessel to dig the largest hole ever. This hole went 1268 meters below the Atlantic sea floor. Then they extracted some of the rock from the hole.
Scientists say that these rocks could reveal a lot of information about Earth’s history. They say that these rocks were close to what made up early Earth and that they could help explain the role the mantle played in the beginning of life on Earth.
Professor Johan Lissenberg, from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says, ”When we recovered the rocks last year, it was a major achievement in the history of the Earth sciences, but, more than that, its value is in what the cores of mantle rocks could tell us about the makeup and evolution of our planet”. Lissenberg is also the lead author of the study that brought these rocks back to the surface, where they can be studied says that they’ve also said that the results and the makeup of the rocks were very different from what they expected. They said that there was a lot less mineral pyroxene and a lot of magnesium. They’ve said that these are both indicators that there was a lot of melting.
They have also said that these samples could help scientists understand how magma is formed.
Sources Used:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/cvge5pydjn4o
One might wonder how they were able to get these rocks, since they aren’t accessible unless you’re looking at really deep parts of the ocean. Well, that’s what they did.They were able to locate and take these rocks to the lab using an ocean drilling vessel to dig the largest hole ever. This hole went 1268 meters below the Atlantic sea floor. Then they extracted some of the rock from the hole.
Scientists say that these rocks could reveal a lot of information about Earth’s history. They say that these rocks were close to what made up early Earth and that they could help explain the role the mantle played in the beginning of life on Earth.
Professor Johan Lissenberg, from Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says, ”When we recovered the rocks last year, it was a major achievement in the history of the Earth sciences, but, more than that, its value is in what the cores of mantle rocks could tell us about the makeup and evolution of our planet”. Lissenberg is also the lead author of the study that brought these rocks back to the surface, where they can be studied says that they’ve also said that the results and the makeup of the rocks were very different from what they expected. They said that there was a lot less mineral pyroxene and a lot of magnesium. They’ve said that these are both indicators that there was a lot of melting.
They have also said that these samples could help scientists understand how magma is formed.
Sources Used:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/cvge5pydjn4o