Several billion years ago, cataclysmic meteor strikes struck the first super landmass in the ancient past. This process struck and sundered this unknown supercontinent over millions of years, resulting in the land masses we see today. Planet Earth is the only one that has defined floating continents on its crust.
Earth's Surface Pounded to Bits by Meteorite
One of the proofs that scientists know a supercontinent existed is that the edges of present continents are so far apart that they fit like jigsaw pieces, but how it came to be is unknown, noted Lumen Learning.
Speculation says that primordial Earth was different, and it took great force to shatter the first supercontinent. Forces unimaginable now were generated.
Even countless millions of years have passed that left bread crumbs as clues, such as zircon, these minerals found in Western Australia Craton. This earthen crust has remained the same for several billion years, reported Science Alert.
Pilbara Craton is a snapshot in the farthest past and holds a record of a primordial past; in it are the zircon crystals with proof of space rocks slamming and breaking continents.
According to Geologist Tim Johnson of the Curtin University of Australia, examining the oxygen isotope in zircon was melted on top with the sign of unbelievable meteor impacts on a super landmass in the ancient past, citing EurekAlert.
He added that the bombardment of the continents by cataclysmic meteoric strikes is similar to the Chicxulub that killed off the dinosaurs later.
They examined 26 rock samples containing zircon bits between 3.6 and 2.9 billion years old.
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Analyzing samples of the oxygen isotopes oxygen-18 to oxygen-16 with 10 and 8 neutrons, which are ratios employed in paleogeology to ascertain the temperature at which the rock was formed,
How Cratons Are Formed
Using these rations, they determined three stages and changed how the Pilbara Craton came to exist.
Stage one involves the formation of zircons as the Earth's crust partially melts due to heat generated by impacting space rocks. Most of the oldest clusters were formed by a powerful impact that made the craton.
The next stage is the reforming and stabilization of the crustal nucleus, followed by the last stage of melting and turning granitic. A stable nucleus that will transform into today's continental pieces, similar to cratons in other crustal plates around the world
Space rocks of variety have destroyed countless eons and an unimaginable number of land masses. Cratons are made by unimaginable heat through catastrophic bombardments with thick rock layers.
There are 35 cratons known in addition to the one investigated thus far; if the hypothesis is correct, more of them must be examined.
Johnston added that the data related to the archaic continental crust of the Earth shows patterns in Western Australia. He said that more tests are needed to verify the study's results published in Nature.
The study says that cataclysmic meteoric strikes are responsible for breaking up a super landmass in the ancient past, with zircons being its clues.
