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Research by the new Curtin University on the formation of Earth's rocks billions of years ago has helped to understand how the unique behavior of the planet's plate tectonics has changed over its lifetime of more than four billions of years.
The research, published in Nature today, found that by comparing the temperature, pressure, and age of ancient rocks, it was revealed that plate tectonics progressively evolved over 2.5 billion years as our planet was slowly cooling down.
Australian Chief Scientist Tim Johnson, from the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Planets at Curtin University, said the new research helped to settle the ongoing debate about when and how to create the system. tectonic plates of the Earth.
"Metamorphic rocks are those that are transformed when they are buried and heated when the tectonic plates are crushed together. Not only are they exceptionally beautiful, but they can also be the key to solving the mystery of how the tectonic behavior of Earth's plates has changed over time, "said Dr. Johnson.
"Some geologists believe that the Earth has experienced plate tectonics throughout its four and a half billion years, while others consider that plate tectonics appeared abruptly there are about a billion years.
"Using a simple statistical badysis of the temperature, pressure, and age of metamorphic rocks, we have revealed that plate tectonics is progressively evolving over the past 2.5 billion years, while our planet is cooled slowly. "
Dr. Johnson said the research focused on how Earth's tectonic processes could have changed during the Proterozoic period, 2.5 to 0.54 billion years ago, which represents almost half of its history.
"There is a debate as to whether the tectonic processes of the plates we observe today can be used to interpret really old rocks or whether the earth's tectonic processes were fundamentally different in the deep geologic past," he said. Dr. Johnson.
"Understanding how ancient Earth was different from the modern Earth is essential to accurately interpret the process of formation of terrestrial rocks and the reason for their distribution on continents, including the location of mineral resources, their extent and extent. their location. additional resources could be found. "
The research paper was co-authored by Dr. Robert Holder and Professor Daniel Viete of Johns Hopkins University and Professor Michael Brown of the University of Maryland.
The report "Metamorphism and Evolution of Plate Tectonics" is available online here.
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