South Atlantic Giant Impact Hypothesis for the Origin of the Earth–Moon System: Impactor Dynamics, Deep Mantle Structures and the Formation of LLSVP–Plume Tectonic Architecture

}This work proposes a conceptual geophysical model linking the formation of the Earth–Moon system to a giant impact event that may have occurred in the present-day South Atlantic region (~40°S, 20°W). The model examines the physical parameters of the impact, including the mass and composition of the impactor, the impact velocity, the collision angle, and the resulting angular momentum required to reproduce the present Earth–Moon system. The collision is hypothesized to have generated a debris disk from which the Moon later accreted. Beyond lunar formation, the study explores the long-term consequences of the impact for Earth's internal structure. The energy deposited into the mantle may have created deep thermochemical anomalies that evolved into the Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVP) observed today beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean. The model proposes a global structural relationship connecting the impact site, mantle plume generation, hotspot chains, Large Igneous Provinces, and the long-term tectonic evolution of the Earth. This framework links planetary impact dynamics, mantle convection, plume activity and plate tectonics with the orbital evolution of the Earth–Moon system