The meteorite originated within the asteroid belt, was sucked in by Earth’s gravity
On November 13, 2015, a meteorite fell close to the city of Kamargaon in Assam, India. It weighed a bit of over 12 kg and scientists decoded its mineral composition and categorized it as a chondrite, quite a lot of stony meteorite. A brand new research has now proven that by finding out this meteorite and its minerals we could discover new clues in regards to the Earth’s decrease mantle.
“We are always interested in knowing how this planet of ours was formed. The Earth has different layers – the upper, very thin crust, followed by the intermediate silicate mantle which starts from 30 km to 2,900 km depth, and then the centre iron-nickel alloy core. The mantle faces high temperature and pressure. So by studying these meteorites which may have experienced similar high pressure and temperature conditions, we can understand the inaccessible mantle layer in detail,” explains Sujoy Ghosh from the Department of Geology and Geophysics on the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is likely one of the authors of the paper just lately printed in Geophysical Research Letters.
Previous research had famous that the Kamargaon meteorite accommodates minerals corresponding to olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase and chromite. Olivine can also be present in Earth’s higher mantle. It is thought to break down into bridgmanite and magnesiowustite in Earth’s decrease mantle circumstances. This breaking down is a crucial response that controls the bodily and chemical properties of the Earth’s inside.
Using new high-resolution electron microscopy and spectroscopy, researchers studied this dissociation response of olivine within the Kamargaon meteorite. They famous another mechanism and reactions that could be driving the transformation of olivine. “It is possible that when materials are transported to the lower mantle by convection or subduction, there would be high-temperature conditions in the lower mantle that would cause this dissociated reaction,” provides Dr. Ghosh. The outcomes counsel what processes and reactions could also be concerned within the formation of Earth’s decrease mantle.
“This meteorite originated from the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter, and was somehow sucked by Earth’s gravity. By studying different meteorites, we can understand in detail about their parent body and in the process understand our own planet and its formation,” provides first writer Kishan Tiwari, analysis scholar, IIT Kharagpur. “The question remained, however, if this process we identified could actually occur in nature. The mechanism needs to be verified in natural terrestrial samples in future studies.”
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