A group of researchers from the Curtin School of Earth and Planetary Sciences has discovered a roughly 4-billion-year-old piece of Earth’s crust beneath Western Australia.
This new discovery helps explain how the planet evolved from being uninhabitable to supporting life.
This is how the discovery was made.
Study officials used lasers smaller than a human hair to target microscopic grains of a mineral called zircon extracted from sand
australian beach
.
The laser light was able to vaporize the metal particles to reveal where they were originally eroded, that is, where they originally came from and at the same time the geological history of the place.
There is evidence that a 4-billion-year-old piece of crust the size of Ireland has influenced the geological evolution of Western Australia during the past few billion years and is a major component of rock formed in Washington during this time.
stated Maximilian Drollner, one of the study’s authors.
A piece of Earth’s crust has survived multiple events
According to the investigation, a piece of Crustal It survived multiple mountain building events between
Australia
India and Antarctica appear to be still present at a depth of tens of kilometers below the southwestern corner of Western Australia.
The study authors note that when comparing the results with existing data, it appears that in many regions around the world, a similar timing of early crust formation and preservation was observed.
This indicates a significant change in the evolution of the Earth about 4 billion years ago, when the meteor bombardment subsided, the crust settled, and life began to establish itself.
they pointed out.
On the other hand, the edge Crustal It can throw new data on the still unknown phenomena of the internal dynamics of the planet and help in the optimal exploration of sustainable resources in the future.
UN News
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