Collisions bring gold and platinum to Earth

Planetary microscopic objects bombarded the Earth nearly 4 billion years ago, bringing many precious metals.

Scientists believe that after the Moon was formed, Earth experienced a long period of "bombardment" by planetary micro-organisms (planetesimal) , also known as late accretion (late accretion) , NASA yesterday reported.

Collision between a planetary microbe and Earth.(Photo: NASA).

In the period that took place 3.8 billion years ago, moon-sized bodies carried a large amount of metal and rock-forming minerals to Earth's crust. Scientists estimate that about 0.5% of the Earth's mass now originates from this period.

The theory of today is recognized based on the idea of ​​planetary microscopy. Accordingly, planets generated from cosmic dust particles collide and bind together (due to electromagnetic interaction), forming increasingly larger objects.

Scientists believe that in the history of the solar system, there were many microscopic planets that were formed with dense density. With support from NASA, researchers from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the University of Maryland created a graphic that simulates the process of a moon-sized planetary microscopic colliding with Earth.

Simulation graphics of a collision between a planetary microbe and Earth.(Video: NASA).

Graphics show that a significant portion of the planet micrograph after the collision has penetrated and merged into the Earth's shell and intermediate layer, but has not been able to penetrate the core region. The rest was thrown back into the universe.

In another study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Simone Marchi and colleagues from SwRI also found evidence of an increase in Earth's mass in the period after. Precious metals such as gold, platinum and rock minerals in the Earth's crust are much richer than Earth's core. This can be explained easily by the theory of late accretion.

The team thinks that the total amount of matter that planetary microbes bring to Earth after collisions can be two to five times greater than what people previously estimated and significantly changed the crust. Earth."Our new findings show the role of planetary microscopes in providing rare metals such as gold and platinum for Earth's crust," Marchi said.