An ancient meteorite that was discovered in the Sahara Desert last year may once have been part of a protoplanet, Science Alert reports.
According to the media outlet, scientists have established that the meteorite, known as Erg Chech 002, formed through a volcanic process which suggests that it once might’ve been part of a protoplanet’s crust.
Also, the science team, led by geochemist Jean-Alix Barrat of the University of Western Brittany, determined that the rock in question apparently predates our very planet, as analysis of "the radioactive decay of isotopes of aluminium and magnesium suggest that these two minerals crystallised around 4.565 billion years ago, in a parent body that accreted 4.566 billion years ago".
"This meteorite is the oldest magmatic rock analysed to date and sheds light on the formation of the primordial crusts that covered the oldest protoplanets," the scientists wrote.
As for the ultimate fate of the protoplanets with andesite crusts, like the one that possibly produced the object of their study, scientists theorised that these bodies likely got smashed in collision with other rocky objects or got absorbed by bigger planets.
"Remains of primordial andesitic crust are therefore not only rare in the meteorite record, but they are also rare today in the asteroid belt," the scientists wrote, as quoted by Live Science.
