Earth and Mars arose 4.5 billion years ago through completely different scenarios, even though they are neighbors in the Solar System. That is the conclusion of researchers from the University of Copenhagen, who studied the chemical composition of both planets' mantles, according to infohub.kz.
As SciTechDaily reports, the mass of the two celestial bodies was built from different construction materials. Roughly 75% of Earth consists of material accumulated through the capture of small cosmic pebbles by young protoplanets. The remaining quarter of its mass came from collisions with large asteroid-like bodies — planetesimals.
For Mars, the picture is reversed. About three-quarters of the Red Planet's mass formed precisely through impacts and the merging of large planetesimals, and only the remaining quarter came from the gradual capture of small particles.
In their work, the researchers used computer modeling and assessed the content of volatile elements such as sodium, zinc, and potassium. These chemical traces persist for billions of years and make it possible to determine the formation conditions of celestial bodies more precisely.
According to the authors, the discovery will help astronomers better assess water reserves and the potential habitability of exoplanets beyond our system.