Introducing Earth

One of Earth’s missing minerals found locked inside meteorite

Proposed yet never proven component of crust and mantle found in space debris

slice of a meteorite

MISSING MINERAL  Part of this slice of a meteorite that crashed into Australia more than a century ago contains a previously undiscovered form of garnet (arrow). Grains of the mineral are too small to see without a microscope.

N. Tomioka

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

The last of a group of dense minerals that make up much of Earth’s crust and upper mantle has been found tucked inside a meteorite that slammed into Australia 135 years ago.