In a new study, a team of researchers suggests that 4 billion years ago, plate tectonics likely looked closer to what we experience today than previously thought. The team published its findings in the Proceedings of the ...
Earth Sciences
18 hours ago
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A team of geoscientists affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and Switzerland has more precisely dated an enormous "magmatic event" that occurred on the moon several billion years ago.
Rock weathering and plate tectonics are vital to life. They both regulate the planet's surface temperature and provide bio-essential nutrients. But how and when these critical processes began on Earth is still a mystery. ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 16, 2024
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9
An international team of geophysicists has found evidence that the Earth experienced plate tectonics earlier than previously thought. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group ...
Our planet was born around 4.5 billion years ago. To understand this mind-bendingly long history, we need to study rocks and the minerals they are made of.
Earth Sciences
Jun 20, 2024
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Little is known about the nature and evolution of Earth's continental crust before a few billion years ago because cratons, or stable swaths of the lithosphere more than 2–3 billion years old, are relatively rare.
Earth Sciences
Apr 24, 2024
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310
Scientists use tiny minerals called zircons as geologic timekeepers. Often no bigger than a grain of sand, these crystals record chemical signatures of the geological environment where they formed. In a new study led by scientists ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 3, 2024
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109
The oldest Scandinavian bedrock was "born" in Greenland according to a new geological study from the University of Copenhagen. The study helps us understand the origin of continents and why Earth is possibly the only planet ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 21, 2024
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117
Zircons, a mineral nearly as old as Earth itself, crystalize when magmas (molten rocks) cool and can be found in trace quantities in magmatic rocks. The formation of magma constitutes the mountains on the Earth. Through interactions ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 13, 2024
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Scientists have taken a journey back in time to unlock the mysteries of Earth's early history, using tiny mineral crystals called zircons to study plate tectonics billions of years ago. The research sheds light on the conditions ...
Astrobiology
Jun 14, 2023
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