Study: Meteor impacts may have shaped the continents

Updated on 08/12/2022 at 16:37

• Researchers have found the most compelling evidence yet that the continents on our planet were formed by multiple large meteorite impacts.
• In the first billion years after the formation of the earth, these were particularly common.

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Earth is the only one so far Planet, which we know has several continents. It is still unclear how these came about and how they developed. Considering that they were once gigantic meteorite impacts have formed has existed for several decades. So far, however, there has been little concrete evidence to support this theory. Until now.

“Our research provides the first hard evidence that the processes that ultimately shaped the continents began with giant meteorite impacts,” said Tim Johnson of Curtin University (Perth, Australia) in a press release. The impacts were comparable to those that Extinction of the Dinosaurs have led. However, they would have taken place billions of years earlier.

Researchers examine rocks from the Pilbara craton in Australia

For this purpose, the researchers examined rocks of the so-called Pilbara craton in western Australia. The Pilbara Craton is considered to be the world’s best preserved remnant of early Earth’s crust. They analyzed the composition of the oxygen isotopes in tiny crystals of the mineral zircon.

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The investigations revealed a process that began with the melting of rocks near the surface and progressed deeper. And that is consistent with the geological effects of giant meteorite impacts. The scientists published their results in the journal “Nature”.

“Data from other areas of the world with early continental crust appear to show similar patterns to those in western Australia,” Johnson continued. He now wants to test the results using other rocks to find out whether the model can also be used on a larger scale.

Sources used:

• Curtin University: Study finds evidence that giant meteorite impacts created the continents
• Nature: Giant impacts and the origin and evolution of continents

Updated on 06/29/2022 at 10:45 am

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