Japanese scientists have recently discovered a stunning treasure of garnet hidden very close to Earth.
A new study from Ehime University (Japan) has unveiled the internal structure of the Moon, Earth’s only natural satellite, and has drawn some surprising conclusions.
Through high-pressure experiments, they concluded that the presence of garnet is the most reasonable explanation for the unusual seismic data observed at depths of 740-1260 km beneath the Moon’s surface, highlighting its significant role in the structure and dynamics of the celestial body.
Garnet located in the lower part of the Moon’s mantle – (Photo: GEODETIC RESEARCH CENTER, EHIME UNIVERSITY).
Garnet, known in Vietnamese as “ngọc hồng lựu,” is a highly prized gemstone in the fields of jewelry making and decorative arts.
According to SciTech Daily, scientists utilized several samples from the Moon along with seismic data recorded by spacecraft operating on this celestial body.
From this, they created a simulation of the Moon’s internal conditions.
This process revealed that deep within the Moon, beneath the mantle and near the boundary with the core, there exists a layer of material rich in garnet.
These findings provide significant details explaining how the Moon has formed and changed over the last 4.5 billion years, since it coalesced from debris of primitive Earth and the collision with the planet Theia.
This discovery further confirms the material similarity between the Moon and Earth, reinforcing the hypothesis that both formed from the shattered remnants of primitive Earth and Theia following the impact.
Indeed, garnet is also found abundantly on Earth, situated deep within its mantle.
The jewelry we obtain from this gemstone is a result of intense tectonic activity and volcanic eruptions that sometimes bring deep-seated materials, such as garnet, rubies, or diamonds, to the surface.
However, there are fundamental differences between the two; Earth is a solid sphere post-collision, with only a small amount of material from Theia added.
In contrast, the Moon formed later, as debris from both planets orbited Earth for some time before coalescing.
