The tectonic movement began 3.6 billion years ago

This is indicated by the ancient crystals through which we can go back billions of years.

An important detail about the history of the Earth is the gradual solidification of the crust and the onset of tectonic motion, as this activity created the world we know as the only one in the Solar System. Now, a recent study sheds light on the early phase of the activity, which has a good chance of signaling us the starting point.

It is a serious concern for professionals that due to the huge time distance, we come across very few remains that come from this age. An ideal candidate in this field is the zircons, which have remained in the form of tiny crystals for us, preserving the characteristics of previous periods. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History staff recently published fresh their studies results suggest that tectonic motion began roughly 3.6 billion years ago, as determined by detailed examination of crystals barely thicker than human hair. The pieces of stone extracted in the Jack Hills area of ​​Western Australia, roughly fitting into the palm, as well as the crystals contained in these pieces, provided the above result, which provided them with a somewhat more specific answer.

The 15 different pieces of stone they examined were laser bombarded, the coveted crystals were extracted from them, and then their chemical composition was determined by mass spectrometric analysis. The approximate age was determined by the uranium content, which in some specimens reached 4.3 billion years (i.e., the Earth itself was only 200 million years old at the time), while the increase in aluminum concentration showed when the motion began, for its growth indicates that these pieces of stone melted at greater depths, so that the crust was already thicker, cooler, and firmer. The start of the tectonic movement on this basis occurred roughly 3.6 billion years ago, although this obviously still does not represent the definitive answer to the question.

The complete material is from Geochemical Perspective Letters side, can be found in its May 14 issue.

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