They were lost after the formation of the planet due to catastrophic events and violent collisions

For decades, scientists have tried to decipher the Mystery of the origin of the essential elements of the Earth and of the reasons why Some of them seem absent On our planet. A new investigation, however, sheds light on this enigma and raises an unexpected perspective on the formation of Earth and Mars.

A team of scientists led by the Assistant Professor Damanveer Grewal, from the State University of Arizona (ASS), in collaboration with researchers from the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), the University of Rice and the Technological Institute of Massachusetts (MIT), He has challenged the Traditional theories about the shortage of elements Moderately volatile (mves) on Earth and Mars.

These elements, Among those who are copper and zincThey play a crucial role in planetary chemistry and are usually associated with fundamental components for life, such as water, carbon and nitrogen. Its origin is key to understanding the conditions that made the earth a habitable world.

A fact that has intrigued scientists for a long time is that Earth and Mars contain significantly less more more than meteorites primitive called chondritas. This discrepancy has generated numerous questions about the processes that determined the chemical composition of the planets. Until now, The most accepted theory suggested that these elements had not completely condensed in the early solar system or that had been lost during the differentiation of the planetsimal, the fundamental blocks in the formation of the planets.

However, the new study, published in the magazine Science Advancesproposes a different interpretation. Analyzing iron meteorites, which are the remnants of the metal centers of the first planetsimal, researchers have discovered that these objects of the internal solar system were surprisingly rich in moderately volatile elements. This finding indicates that The first planetary structures did not start with a shortage of these elementsbut its loss occurred later throughout a prolonged growth process and cosmic collisions.

We have found conclusive evidence that the first planetsimal in the internal solar system had a considerable amount of these elementsGrewal explained. This discovery transforms our understanding of how the planets acquired the components that make them up.

The research team also identified that many planets of the interior solar system retained levels of Mves similar to those of the Condritas, which means that they could have incorporated and retained despite having experienced differentiation. This contradicts the idea that Earth and Mars originally trained with low levels of these elements. Instead, His disappearance would have happened later due to a series of violent collisions that molded the structure of the planets in formation.

This new perspective redefines the understanding of planetary chemical evolution and suggests that the primordial blocks that gave rise to Earth and Mars were not poor in essential elements for life, but that their current shortage is the Result of subsequent catastrophic events. In previous investigations, Grewal had already studied the presence of nitrogen and water in the parents of iron meteorites, and with this study, the focus has moved towards the planetary nuclei and their volatile reserves.

The findings of this research not only have implications in the understanding of planetary training in our solar system, but they could also be applicable to the formation of planets in other star systems. Revealing that the planetsimal may have begun with a composition rich in essential elements and that these were lost due to mass collisions, this study opens new possibilities for the exploration of habitable planets beyond the earth.