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Arizona lies about 8,500 miles from Australia, more than a third of the world. Yet scientists believe that some of the Grand Canyon's mountainous walls are now inland.
The researchers found in Tasmania rocks containing minerals of geochemical composition similar to some of the oldest rock layers of the iconic American monument. They published their findings earlier this month in the review Geology.
Although Australia and North America are so far apart, about a billion years ago, they were both part of a supercontinent called Rodinia. Although reconstructions of this landmass differ, it is thought that all of the current continental plates have been contained.
The Tasmanian discovery helps geologists get a better idea of how all these pieces fit together once. "[This] A paper shows that Tasmania holds the key to linking the tectonic geography of the time, "said Alan Collins of the University of Adelaide, Australia. New scientist. "It's really a good link that allows us to build complete models of the ancient Earth."
Aged between 1.1 and 1.2 billion years ago, the group of Tasmanian strange rocks "did not look much like rocks of the same age nearby," explained author and geologist Jack Mulder of the Monash University in Australia.
The geochemistry of the rock has shown that it is better suited to those of the Grand Canyon, some layers of which date back to 1.5 billion years. "We have concluded that even if it is now on the opposite side of the planet, Tasmania must have been attached to the western United States," he said.
In other news on geology, scientists have recently discovered how the impact of an incredibly powerful asteroid was causing rocks on the Earth to behave briefly like liquids. By probing the only crater on our planet that contains a "ring of peak" – mountainous rocks rising from the ground inside its outer ring – revealed intense vibrations that made the rocks flow like a fluid. The massive asteroid is the same one that killed the dinosaurs.
Meanwhile, in China, researchers have mapped an underground chamber hidden behind a chasm beneath Guangxi's forests. The gigantic structure would have a volume of 236 million cubic feet. Explorations revealed craters, pillars, corridors, corridors and rounded rocks called cave pearls. An expedition scientist described the cave complex as "world class.
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