For the first time.. Discovery of the deepest rock sample from the Earth's mantle

Arab Weather - Scientists have managed to reach the deepest hole ever drilled into the Earth's mantle rocks, using an ocean drilling ship. They penetrated to a depth of 1,268 meters below the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and succeeded in obtaining a large sample that provides new evidence about the thickest layer of our planet.

According to Reuters, the researchers explained on Thursday that this cylindrical sample provides insights into the composition of the upper part of the mantle and the chemical processes that occur when this rock interacts with seawater at different temperatures. They added that these processes may have been essential in the beginning of life on Earth billions of years ago.

What is the Earth's mantle?

The mantle makes up more than 80% of the planet's volume and is a layer of silicate rocks between the Earth's crust and the hot core. Mantle rocks are difficult to access except in areas that are exposed on the seafloor, such as areas between slowly moving continental plates.

Among these areas is the Atlantis Massif, an underwater mountain where mantle rocks are exposed on the seafloor, located in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Discovery from the depths of the earth

The sample collected consists of more than 70% of the rock extracted from a 886-metre-long borehole. “It’s a very interesting piece of rock,” said geologist Johan Lissenberg of Cardiff University in Wales, lead author of the study published in the journal Science.

“We set a record for extraction, as previous attempts to drill into the mantle had only penetrated 200 meters, while we penetrated 1,268 meters and extracted large sections of mantle,” Lissenberg added. “Previously, mantle samples were largely limited to what was collected from the seafloor.”

The core sample is about 6.5 centimeters in diameter. Scientists have observed the peridot in the sample reacting with seawater at different temperatures, showing that the interaction between seawater and mantle rocks can release hydrogen, which in turn reacts to form compounds such as methane that support microscopic life.

Lisenberg said:

“These interactions may be linked to the origin of life on Earth, and this sample provides an opportunity to study the interactions in detail over a range of different temperatures, and to relate them to observations made by microbiologists about microorganisms in rocks and their depths beneath the ocean floor.”

The drilling site is near the Lost City hydrothermal field, an area of hydrothermal vents on the seafloor from which superheated water flows. The sample is thought to represent mantle rocks beneath the Lost City vents, and it is thought that the origin of life on Earth occurred in a similar environment.

The sample is still being analyzed, and researchers have made preliminary findings about its composition and found that the rock's melting history is longer than expected.

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