NASA
Earthrise 2015, the birth of the earth seen from the moon by the lunar reconnaissance orbiter
It is believed that the formation of the moon brought with it water, an essential element to life. But is it anyway? A team of scientists challenges dogma.
For life, there are three fundamental ingredients: water, a source of energy, and a set of organic compounds known as Chnops (which include carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur).
“Detering when water has come to our planet is one of the most important issues of planetary science. With this information, we can better identify when and how life came to Earth, ”explains the researcher Katherine is fierce to the .
Now, one published in Science Direct at the end of last year suggests that water and life emerged through dust and gas at a time after what was thought, the late.
So far, it was believed that the formation of the moon had been the primary mechanism for bringing water to the earth. However, the researcher explains, “the data obtained support the idea that water came in small quantities after the formation of the moon, during a very later phase of the evolution of the earth.”
The authors of the study resorted to the thermal ionization mass spectrometry method, as well as a new analytical method they developed: they examined the chemical element isotopes if it is believed to have been added to Earth during the moon formation event, the molybdenium, extracted from meteorites stored at the National Museum of Natural History of Smithsonian Institution.
“The isotopic composition of molybdenium in land rocks provides a unique window for events that occurred during the final phase of Earth’s nucleus formation, a period that coincides with the formation of the moon and during which the last 10% to 20 were gathered. % of Earth’s mass, ”explains Bermingham.
The conclusion was that Earth rocks are more similar to the meteorites of the inner solar system (NC) than to the exterior solar system (CC). That is, water has reached a later stage, so the necessary conditions for life may have been established for a different period from what has been thought so far.
These findings, to be proven, can evolve the whole way we interpret the beginning of life on Earth, and open field for new investigations.
