Scientists have obtained the deepest rock sample from the Earth's mantle: why it is important

Scientists have managed to obtain a rock sample from the Earth's mantle, which is 1268 meters below the Atlantic Ocean floor. A fragment of the cylindrical core will help to study the composition of the largest of the inner shells of our planet and the variability of chemical processes that occur when it interacts with seawater.

The scientists were able to obtain the unique element using the ocean drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution, Reuters reports. According to the scientists, future experiments will help to come closer to understanding the processes of the emergence of life on Earth billions of years ago.

The mantle is the inner shell of the planet, occupying about 80% of its volume. It is a silicate rock that lies between the outer crust and the hot core. This layer of the Earth is usually inaccessible for research, but in some parts of the seabed, between moving blocks, it is close to the surface.

The site is an underwater mountain in the Atlantic Ocean that forms the boundary between the North American, Eurasian, and African plates. Using the equipment of the JOIDES Resolution vessel, the scientists drilled into the mantle rock at a depth of 850 meters below the surface of the reservoir. The scientists managed to extract a 6.5-centimeter-diameter core containing about 70% of the Earth's composition.

"The recovery is record-breaking, as previous attempts to drill into mantle rocks were difficult, with penetration no deeper than 200 meters and relatively low rock recovery. In addition, we have penetrated to 1268 meters, recovering large areas of continuous mantle rock," said Johan Lissenberg, a geologist at Cardiff University.

According to the researcher, during the extraction of the substance, they were able to document how olivine (a mineral found in the mantle) reacts to salt water at different temperatures: "The reaction between seawater and mantle rocks at or near the seafloor releases hydrogen, which in turn forms compounds such as methane, which are the basis of microbial life. This is one of the hypotheses for the origin of life on Earth."

He added that after the initial analysis of the sample, experts have already made several conclusions about its structure. One of the mantle's components, orthopyroxene, showed a wide range of abundance on a scale from a centimeter to hundreds of meters. This means that when the upper layer of the Earth's mantle melts, it rises to the places where the plates meet to "feed" volcanoes.

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