The Most Abundant Material on Earth Has Been Seen for the First Time

Ron Czapala

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/deep/bridgmanite-most-abundant-mineral-on-earth-found-17488897

The mineral is believed to make up 36 percent of the total volume of Earth, making it the most abundant thing on our planet. Yet it is found so deep down below the surface—410 to 1615 miles—that it’s never been seen before. Those depths are so volatile that even if we could dig down there, the samples would be destroyed before they could be studied.

Now scientists have finally succeed in getting a glimpse of this stuff, which they just named bridgmanite (you can’t name a mineral until you’ve actually observed the thing). And they did it by a circuitous route—they looked for it in meteors.