via PHYS.org A team of scientists at Arizona State University has proposed that the large blobs of material in Earth's mantle (the large low-shear velocity provinces, LLSVPs) may be left over pieces of Theia, a protoplanet theorized to have struck Earth, resulting in the creation of the moon. The group argued their case at this year's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference and are awaiting publication in Geophysical Research Letters. Most space scientists have come to believe that the moon was created when another planet (now called Theia) collided with a very early Earth—pieces of Earth, Theia or both that were flung into space during the collision eventually coalesced into the moon. Theories regarding what happened to the rest of Theia are still being argued. In this new effort, the team in Arizona suggests that much of Theia's mantle wound up in Earth's mantle, forming what are now called the large low-shear-velocity provinces, LLSVPs—one beneath parts of the African continent and