2023-10-25 08:43:00
At first, they were just one. Then little by little, the continents moved apart then closer together, entering into the dance of plate tectonics. According to Suzette Timmerman of the University of Bern, Switzerland, and her team of scientists, the diamonds contain traces of the rocky mantle that helped support and grow the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana from below, as reported in a study published in the journal NatureOctober 18, 2023.
Hundreds of millions of years ago, Gwandana comprised half of the planet’s land surface. “These are South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, etc.”as detailed inUniversalis encyclopedia.
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Diamonds formed between 300 and 700 kilometers below the Earth’s surface
Researchers from the University of Alberta and the Carnegie Institution for Science have found remnants of the supercontinent’s continental crust in inclusions inside diamonds. The gemstones analyzed were formed between 300 and 700 kilometers below the Earth’s surface, as the study explains.
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Scientists identified, isolated, studied crystallographically, then radiometrically dated these inclusions in order to determine their geological ages. “Studying such rare samples with various measurement techniques required significant teamwork”explains Suzette Timmerman, in an article in Carnegie Sciencepublished on October 18, 2023.
“The age of these inclusions provides a record of when a floating mantle was added to Gondwana from below, scaffolding, supporting and thus growing the supercontinent”adds Steven Shirey, team member and scientist at the Earth and Planets Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution for Science.
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A key to better understanding the history of the Earth
How does the material weld the continental fragments together from below? How do you stabilize a landmass of this size? By combining their laboratory analysis and cross-referencing them with existing models of tectonic movement and continental migration, researchers can now attempt to answer these questions.
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“By revealing the geological processes that contributed to the growth of Gondwana, scientists can better understand the forces that shaped Earth’s history and the phenomenon of continental stability”concludes Michael Walter, director of the Earth and Planets Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution for Science and member of the research team.
On the same topic :
>>> An extremely rare diamond containing another diamond discovered in India
>>> The current continents would have been erected on the remains of the first continents which sank
>>> This interactive map shows you where your city was hundreds of millions of years ago
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