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Scientists find evidence that continents were formed by the impact of giant meteorites | Science & Technology News


Scientists have discovered what they believe is the strongest evidence to date that continents were formed by the impact of massive meteorites in Earth’s early history.

Meteorite impacts are “particularly common during the first billion years of our planet’s four-and-a-half billion-year history,” according to researchers from Curtin University.

The theory that the original continents formed at the sites of these impacts goes back decades, but there is little solid evidence to back that up – so far, Dr. Johnson said.

Dr Johnson said: “By examining tiny crystals of the mineral zircon in rocks from the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, which represent the best-preserved remains of ancient crust on Earth, we have found evidence of the impacts of this giant meteorite.

The mineral deposits around the Pilbara, which are rich in iron, are some of the oldest on Earth, and were previously the site of the earliest known evidence of life on land.

A road leads to an open pit mine in an area known as the Pilbara region in the north-west of Western Australia
Picture:
A road leads to an open pit mine in an area known as the Pilbara region in the north-west of Western Australia

Dr Johnson explains: “Studying the composition of oxygen isotopes in these zircon crystals suggests a ‘top-down’ process that begins with the melting of rock near the surface and progresses deeper, consistent with geological effects of giant meteorite impacts”.

“Our study provides the first definitive evidence that the processes that formed the continents eventually began with the impacts of giant meteorites, similar to those that caused the extinction of species.” dinosaurs, but that happened billions of years before that.”

It is extremely important to understand how Earth’s continents formed and continue to develop, the scientists explain, because we are so dependent on their mineral deposits – as is the reality. are the lands that contain most of our planet’s biomass.

“Continents possess important metals like lithium, tin and nickel, which are essential commodities for the emerging green technologies needed to fulfill their climate change mitigation obligations,” said Dr. ta.

“These mineral deposits are the end result of a process known as crustal differentiation, which began with the formation of the earliest soil layers, of which the Pilbara Craton is just one of many.

“Data regarding other regions of ancient continental crust on Earth seem to show patterns similar to those recorded in Western Australia. We wanted to test our findings on these ancient rocks to see if our model can be applied more widely.” “



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