Scientists have discovered evidence that the continents were formed by the devastating impact of giant meteorites when the Earth was still young. (image: Trifonov)
The formation and evolution of our planet is still a great mystery. If the planet were 100 years old today, we could say that humans were born only a month ago. That’s it, 6 million years for humans compared to 4.5 billion years for Earth.
so true We can only imagine and guess a story so long we haven’t seen. What was the planet like a billion years ago? We’ll never know. But still, every now and then science finds surprising things about Earth’s past.
The research carried out at Curtin University and published in Nature obtained great evidence that who created the continents on planet earth, surprisingly, the impact of giant meteorites in the first billion years of its life.
Have you stopped to think that the Earth is only known planets Between the Solar System and the Outer, where the continents are, And since the continents are home to most of the Earth’s biomass, almost all deposits important minerals of the planet and of course are the home? for humans, understanding their background may also be key to understanding them. evolution of our own species,
Tim Johnson, a researcher at De Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences noted that the idea that the continents were originally formed at giant meteorite impact sites has been around for decades, but there was little evidence for support the theory, so far.
How did scientists discover that giant meteors could have formed Earth’s continents?
The researchers analyzed tiny zircon crystals in rocks found in Australia’s Pilbara Craton. these are unique crystals Ancient Archaic Crust are identified on the planet, that is, the living remains of the planet that was approx. 4 billion years.
The Pilbara craton in western Australia, where the most intact Archean crust on the planet used in the study was sampled. (Image: Steve B. Freo)
The study revealed a melting process that started at the surface and then progressed to the bottom, and not the other way around, which is consistent with a geological effect caused by the impact of giant meteorites.
Our research provides the first strong evidence that the processes that led to the formation of the continents were triggered by a massive meteorite impact similar to the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs just billions of years ago. Tim Johnson.
Now that we know that new climate change mitigation technologies require products that are mined directly from the Earth’s crust, such as lithium, tin and nickel. There is an urgent need to understand how the continents were formed and what happened to the process called crustal differentiation. ,
The Earth’s core oscillates and changes the length of days!
The scientists plan to test the findings in other regions of the planet’s ancient continental crust, to find out if the model is truly universal. For now, we can only imagine its great influence. When these meteors hit our planet and formed its surface, one wonders how much remains to be discovered.