New evidence suggests Earth’s continents were formed by meteorite impacts, providing insights into ancient crust formation and valuable minerals.
New research has uncovered the strongest evidence yet that Earth’s continents were formed by giant meteorite impacts, which were especially common during the first billion years or so of our planet’s four-and-a-half-billion-year history. Curtin University researchers conducted the study, which was published on August 10, 2022, in the journal Nature.
According to Dr. Tim Johnson, from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the idea that the continents originally formed at sites of giant meteorite impacts has been around for decades. However, until now there was little solid evidence to support the theory.
“By examining tiny crystals of the mineral zircon in rocks from the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, which represents Earth’s best-preserved remnant of ancient crust, we found evidence of these giant meteorite impacts,” Dr. Johnson said.
Oxygen Isotopes Reveal Geological Impact
“Studying the composition of oxygen isotopes in these zircon crystals revealed a ‘top-down’ process starting with the melting of rocks near the surface and progressing deeper, consistent with the geological effect of giant meteorite impacts.
“Our research provides the first solid evidence that the processes that ultimately formed the continents began with giant meteorite impacts, similar to those responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, but which occurred billions of years earlier.”
Understanding the formation and ongoing evolution of the Earth’s continents is crucial according to Dr. Johnson because these landmasses host the majority of Earth’s biomass, all humans, and almost all of the planet’s important mineral deposits.
“Not least, the continents host critical metals such as lithium, tin, and nickel, commodities that are essential to the emerging green technologies needed to fulfill our obligation to mitigate climate change,” Dr. Johnson said.
“These mineral deposits are the end result of a process known as crustal differentiation, which began with the formation of the earliest landmasses, of which the Pilbara Craton is just one of many.
“Data related to other areas of ancient continental crust on Earth appears to show patterns similar to those recognized in Western Australia. We would like to test our findings on these ancient rocks to see if, as we suspect, our model is more widely applicable.”
Reference: “Giant impacts and the origin and evolution of continents” by Tim E. Johnson, Christopher L. Kirkland, Yongjun Lu, R. Hugh Smithies, Michael Brown and Michael I. H. Hartnady, 10 August 2022, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04956-y
Dr. Johnson is affiliated with The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Curtin’s flagship earth sciences research institute.
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16 Comments
“I pledge allegiance to the meme, and to the ideology for which it stands, and to the ‘commodities that are essential to the emerging green technologies needed to fulfill our obligation to mitigate climate change.’”
It used to be that the epitome of a scientist was an unbiased, or ‘disinterested’ observer. When people start rationalizing the motivation or purpose of their investigations with a political salute, it is no longer science.
Looks like one of the old dinosaurs that went extinct has chimed in, still promoting their antiquated views.
The bible alway proves right
Especially when I need some support urgently, and the toilet paper is out.
As comments go these are seriously irrelevant.
As to the impact effect Alf Wegener’s drift and this together make sense.
I see evidence of impacts cited in the paper, but I don’t see an evidence to back up the hypothesis that plate tectonics was a result of these impacts. Impacts could be a coincidence, not the cause.
It was Nibiru I tell ya
You smart guys are getting there, maybe in a couple of hundred more years you all will figure out how to use the elements in our solar system to create.
Oh no! We’ve got to do something about this!
Global warming is BS. Check out warming periods since the Younger Dryas.
Soooo… California isn’t really gonna break off when “The Big One” hits, unless it’s a meteor now 🏊♂️
I solved the impact history over a decade ago. Fe Ni drains from each of the great impacts left stationary hot spots in the mantle and volcanic chains on drifting continental plates. My very detailed Earth Shattering Evolution
PowerPoint is on the Phoenix Astronomical Society website pasaz.org under Mike’s presentations.
Created by the finger of God but
Not the way u think of him or her the earth is aliving breathing organism it has a delicate life support system. It has to have its climate change to stay alive it is not brought on by human activity.
None sense we all know that volcanos created all the continent’s.
😂😂😂😂😂😂💩🤡🤡🤡🤡
On retrouve facilement des zones circulaires en relief témoignant d’impacts et on sait déjà que toutes les planètes se créent par attraction fusion de gros météorites de la ceinture à distance géométrique du soleil . Il y a un moment oú ça s’arrête dans le premier milliard d’année même si certains ont été plus tardifs jusqu a l’impact récent de 66 millions d’année ayant éteint les dinosaures . Ensuite les mouvements complexes dus à la rotation terrestre et à l’expulsion de matières sur des zones de rift crée des océans autour du rift et réduit les océans au contact avec création de montagnes et de lacs si aucune plaque ne passe sous l’autre cas des alpes et de l’Himalaya mais on voit bien que sur ces zones de contact il se dessine l’arc du dernier impact météoritique de surface sinon pourquoi un arc parfait et pas un zigzag fractal aléatoire au gré des seules failles dues à une hyperpression volcanique .Tout semble s’être passé comme si les continents sont des englobements d’impacts météoritiques énormes se rajoutant à chaque fois à la prototerre et finissant par influencer la forme des plaques en flottant sur le magma directement en arrivant et en créant une hyperpression faisant craquer les zones fragiles du manteau ré dessinant les plaques et ceci indépendamment du fait que la terre ne saurait être qu’en expansion du fait des réactions de fusion interne son volume augmente et apporte ce volcanisme qui participe à ses cycles vitaux l’ayant sauvé par deux fois au moins d’une fatale glaciation type boule de glace auto entretenu par l’albédo .Alors vive cette petite flambée de réchauffement qui ne fait que décaler les zones habitables vers les pôles arrêtons de tout dramatiser . Tout phénomène de réchauffement nous éloigne de l’issue finale glacée à l’extrême . En attendant la fusion maîtrisée ….