A phenomenal geological discovery has emerged from the depths of the Indian Ocean, specifically off the coast of Mayotte. The submarine volcano known as Fani Maoré, which was first identified after a series of massive earthquakes in 2018, has turned out to hold secrets about the early history of planet Earth's formation.
According to a study published in the journal PNAS, scientists have successfully detected the presence of ancient magma dating back to the earliest geological eon. This magma is believed to have been stored inside the Earth's interior since the time of the Moon's formation, specifically when Earth was estimated to be only 100 million years old due to the impact of an ancient planet named Theia.
This discovery is highly significant because rocks from the Hadean eon—the first 500 million years of Earth's history—are extremely rare. Until now, most rocks from that period were thought to have been destroyed and recycled by tectonic plate movements, thereby cutting off Earth's earliest geological record.
The research team used neodymium-142 (142Nd) isotope analysis to confirm the origin of the lava. Successfully detecting remnants of material from a cooling global magma ocean debunks the pessimism of previous scientists who thought that ancient materials had been thoroughly mixed into the Earth's mantle.
With the discovery of the Fani Maoré lava samples, the scientific world now has a new gateway to understanding our planet's evolution following the giant impact 4.5 billion years ago. These findings provide crucial clues about how the first minerals, such as bridgmanite and ferropericlase, began to crystallize and form the basic structure of the Earth as we know it today.
