The Earth "swelled" 3 billion years ago: this is how the first continents appeared

Just 1.5 billion years after the formation of the Earth, the mantle—the layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer

a nucleus that was more active in the past -warmed up. As a result, magma from this layer seeped into fragments of older crust above it. They served as the “seeds” for the growth of modern continents.

Researchers have found evidence of this surgegrowth hidden in ancient zircon crystals in stream sediments in Greenland. These extremely strong crystals formed during this growth spurt about 3 billion years ago.

Before this period of massive growth, the ancient crustThe Earth was much thinner and weaker than it is today. The temperature of the mantle later peaked due to the radioactive decay of elements such as uranium and potassium in the Earth's core, as well as residual heat from the planet's formation. The global peak caused the crust to continue to swell for about 200 million years.

At the end of this period, the first continents began to form, eventually leading to the development of complex life on land around 400 million years ago.

This growth spurt is evidenced byinclusions of zircon crystals less than 100 microns in size (smaller than the width of a human hair) that were weathered from rocks and accumulated in stream sediments in Western Greenland. Like trees, crystals have growth rings caused by periods of magma pumping. 

The results of the study can be used to find new mining sites.

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