The same interplanetary collision which created the moon also made life possible on Earth, according to new research.

Elements essential for life, likely including all of the carbon and nitrogen in our bodies, were introduced to our planet 4.4 billion years ago.

Petrologists - scientists studying the origin of rocks - believe Earth's essential volatile elements were introduced in a collision with another planet which we later subsumed.

Rajdeep Dasgupta, the study's co-author at Rice University in Texas, said: "From the study of primitive meteorites, scientists have long known that Earth and other rocky planets in the inner solar system are volatile-depleted.

"But the timing and mechanism of volatile delivery has been hotly debated. Ours is the first scenario that can explain the timing and delivery in a way that is consistent with all of the geochemical evidence."

Dr Gasgupta's laboratory, which specialises in studying geochemical reactions deep within planets under intense heat and pressure, provided the evidence for the research.

The study's lead author, graduate student Damanveer Grewal, gathered evidence to support the theory that Earth's volatile elements arrived through a collision with an embryonic planet that had a core rich with sulfur.

Source: SkyNews