Two mysterious ‘continent-sized’ blobs found inside Earth’s core
For decades, geologists have been baffled by the existence of two continent-sized mysterious blobs hiding inside Earth’s core.
Now, a new study may offer insights into the origins of the anomalies, suggesting that they could be leftovers from a cosmic collision. Officially known as Large Low-Shear-Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs), these blobs are massive, each the size of a continent, and 100 times taller than Mount Everest.
Until now, scientists have known very little about these blobs, why they exist, and why they have odd shapes of varying heights.
A team of researchers believe that these anomalies are actually the remains of Theia, a protoplanet that struck the Earth 4.5 million years ago, in a collision that resulted in the formation of the Moon.
These blobs, which sit below West Africa and the Pacific Ocean, have confounded seismologists for decades.
Sujoy Mukhopadhyay at the University of California, Davis highlighted the importance of understanding these lumps, saying: “if these things are truly ancient, it tells us something about how our planet formed”.
According to Qian Yuan, a PhD student in geodynamics at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, these anomalies are “the largest thing in the Earth’s mantle.”
While experts have theorised that these blobs were by crystallising out of the depths of Earth’s primordial magma ocean, Mr Qian believes that lumps are actually the remains of Theia itself.
These LLSVPs are much denser than the mantle of the Earth surrounding them, and as a result, it tends to abruptly slow down seismic waves to pass through them.
In the study, the authors wrote: “Here, we demonstrate that Theia’s mantle may be several percent intrinsically denser than Earth’s mantle, which enables the Theia mantle materials to sink to the Earth’s lowermost mantle and accumulate into thermochemical piles that may cause the seismically-observed LLSVPs.”
Edward Garnero, a seismologist at ASU Tempe who was not involved in the work, noted that this is the first time any researcher has made a serious case for this theory “I think it’s completely viable until someone tells me it’s not.”
This theory, which was first proposed in the 1970s, also serves to explain why the Moon is dry and doesn’t have a significant iron core.
In a model developed by Mr Qian, he found that after the collision of Theia, the protoplanet would have quickly merged with the Earth.
Previously, Mr Qian and Mingming Li of the School of Earth and Space Exploration used geodynamic modelling and analysis to learn more about the two blobs.
The results of their seismic analysis led to a surprising discovery that the blob under the African continent is about 621 miles (1,000 km) higher than the blob under the Pacific Ocean.
According to Mr Qian and Mr Li, the best explanation for the vast height difference between the two is that the blob under the African continent is less dense (and therefore less stable) than the one under the Pacific Ocean.
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Robert Beatty
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To understand these blobs, the first thing to do is bury the Theia idea. The moon exploded from planet earth’s surface and left behind a circulating magma chamber which is an ellipsoid shape. Specific details are at https://bosmin.com/PSL/PlanetsSatellitesLandforms.pdf, see figure 1.4 on page 12.
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Geraint HUghes
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That is an interesting theory. It also makes sense that Jupiter and Saturn would also be exploding planets out from within as a reason why they have so many moons and rings (for those moons that didnt make it out and fell back or where the “eruption” is too small.) From that theory you could then extend it further to say, the inner planets originated from Jupiter ./ Saturn as an planetary eruption and did not form in their present locations. Evidence such as liquid metallic hyrdrogen present in the cores of Earth / Venus, were it to be found would substantiate such a theory. As these materials can not form in the lower pressure environs Earth / Venus have in their cores, but which do exist in Jupiter / Saturn cores.
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Robert Beatty
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Interesting suggestions Geraint.
Earth seems to have had sufficient internal energy/mass to generate satellite launches – especially when you add Mercury and the Moon as initial component masses – without requiring the extra power of Jupiter.
Currently pluto satellite evidence from Jupiter indicates a continuing thermal eruption is present below the red spot. See https://bosmin.com/PSL/PlanetJupiter.pdf which provides further evidence to support the existence of an ellipsoid magma chambers.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Robert and PSI Readers,
“But a part of him [Richard Feynman] still preferred to give ‘fundamental’ a different definition. “what we are talking about is real and at hand: Nature,” he wrote to a correspondent in India, who had, he thought, spent too much time reading about esoteric phenomena.
“Learn by trying to understand simple things in terms of other ideas—always honestly and directly. What keeps the clouds up, why can’t I see stars in the daytime, why do colors appear on oily water, what makes the lines on the surface of water being poured from a pitcher, why does a hangin lamp swing back and forth—all the innumerable things you see all around you. Then when you have learned what an explanation really is, you can then go on to more subtle questions.” (GENIUS, Caltech, All his Knowledge, James Gleick)
Have a good day, Jerry
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