There may be massive pieces of another planet inside the Earth - because of it the Moon was formed

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered new evidence that large pieces of another planet are stuck in the bowels of the Earth. Apparently, they have been there since the formation of the Solar System.

Researchers have long suspected that deep in the mantle there may be parts of a Mars-sized protoplanet called Theia. According to the theory, about 4.5 billion years ago it crashed into the Earth and broke apart, eventually leading to the formation of the Moon.

This version explains the appearance not only of our satellite, but also of two areas of slowing seismic waves under Africa and the Pacific Ocean, the so-called LLVP anomalies. This may occur due to higher density materials.

To prove this, the authors of the new research simulated the collision of Earth and Theia using two different methods. In both cases, the upper half of our planet's mantle melted, effectively allowing foreign objects to penetrate to the core itself - about 10% of the original impactor size.

By testing various conditions, scientists also found that the density of these fragments was 2.5% higher than on Earth, and their sizes were at least 50 kilometers. Otherwise they would not be able to dive.

However, other scientists still have many questions. For example, why over such a long period of time the fragments of Theia did not mix with the Earth’s mantle. Some also believe that the magma circulating in the lower mantle has had enough time to independently form clots of different densities, which now lead to a slowdown of seismic waves