Revising Earth's early history

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Image: The Boyet and Carlson result requires the Earth to have differentiated early within 30 million years leaving most of Earths mantle (light blue) depleted in those elements that prefer melts over crystallizing solids. The chemical complement to ...
Image: The Boyet and Carlson result requires the Earth to have differentiated early, within 30 million years, leaving most of Earth's mantle (light blue) depleted in those elements that prefer melts over crystallizing solids. The chemical complement to the depleted mantle could be small and quite enriched in radioactive elements, such as uranium and thorium; this complementary material may coincide with the seismically observed D" layer, located between the core and the mantle some 2700 km deep. (Images courtesy Maud Boyet.)

Earth's future was determined at birth. Using refined techniques to study rocks, researchers at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism found that Earth's mantle--the layer between the core and the crust--separated into chemically distinct layers faster and earlier than previously believed. The layering happened within 30 million years of the solar system's formation, instead of occurring gradually over more than 4 billion years, as the standard model suggests. The new work was recognized by Science magazine, in its December 23 issue, as one of the science breakthroughs for 2005.


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