A Merkle root is a Merkle tree's root hash. A Merkle tree consists of a root that connects to branches of data, which in turn link to leaves containing further data. Every branch of a Merkle tree has its own hash. The root hash is produced by combining all of the hashes, and each change in the data related to the root results in a new root hash. Merkle trees are used to organize the data in individual blocks on a blockchain. When dealing with anonymous peers, peers on a network can use Merkle roots to check that data has not been changed and is complete and undamaged. When you get a dataset and a root hash, Peers can compare the root hash they get to the root hash produced by the dataset. For this to be a valid verification paradigm, nodes do not need to contain the entire dataset; partial verification can also be useful. Merkle roots also connect blocks in hash pointers, which include the Merkle root and hash pointer of the previous block.
