Scientists have identified what may be the first direct evidence of material left over from the "proto-Earth," a primordial version of our planet that existed before a colossal moon-forming impact reshaped it forever.
The study, published Tuesday (Oct. 14) in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests that tiny chemical clues of this proto-Earth have survived deep within Earth's rocks, essentially unaltered, for billions of years. The findings provide a rare window into the planet's original building blocks and could offer scientists clues about what Earth and its neighboring worlds were like in their earliest eras.
