Study says continents were created from giant meteorites that hit the earth

KOMPAS.com – To date, Earth is the only planet known to have continent.

However, exactly how this continent formed and evolved is not clear until now. And now a new study claims that Earth’s continents occur because of meteorite giant crashed into the planet.

As quoted from Independent, Thursday (11/8/2022) according to the study, Earth has been bombarded with a series of extraterrestrial objects in its first billion years. The incident helped determine the shape of the land.

Previously, researchers had long suspected that such a collision had formed Earth’s continents. However, no evidence was ever found.

Read also: Why Isn’t Greenland Called a Continent?

Until finally, researchers are now examining ancient meteorites and discovering the role of these extraterrestrial bodies in the history of our planet.

“By examining small crystals of the mineral zircon in rocks found at Pilbara Craton in Australia, we found evidence of this giant meteorite impact,” said Tim Johnson of Curtin University.

Pilbara Craton is a piece of crust earthwhich has remained stable for more than a billion years and is still well preserved today.

Researchers then studied the oxygen isotopic composition in the zircon crystals and revealed the process ‘top-down‘ which begins with the melting of rock near the surface and progresses deeper.

This is consistent with the geological effects of a giant meteorite impact.

“Our research provides strong evidence, first of all, that the processes that ultimately formed the continents came from the impact of a giant meteorite. Similar to what happened with the extinction of the dinosaurs, but billions of years earlier again,” said Johnson.

Read also: Difference between continental crust and oceanic crust

The creation of this continent became important. The reason is, Earth’s land has become home to almost all the biomass, humans, and important minerals on this planet.

“Continent It’s also where we find important metals like lithium, lead and nickel,” Johnson added.

The study explaining the impact of this giant meteorite was later published in the journal Nature.

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