Comet impacts formed continents when Solar System entered arms of Milky Way



The conventional wisdom regarding the genesis of our planet has been turned on its head by new study from Curtin University that suggests the early continents of Earth were formed as a result of comet impacts as our Solar System entered and exited the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy.

A new perspective on Earth's early history and our place in the universe is provided by the new research, which was published in Geology and challenges the conventional wisdom that the planet's crust was only created by internal processes.

Studying minerals in the Earth's crust revealed a rhythm of crust production every 200 million years or so, Professor Chris Kirkland, the study's principal investigator, from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said. This rhythm matched our Solar System's transit through regions of the galaxy with a higher density of stars.

Every 200 million years or so, the Solar System passes between the spiral arms of the Milky Way as it revolves about it, according to Professor Kirkland.

We observe a similar rhythm of crust production from examining the age and isotopic signature of minerals from the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia and the North Atlantic Craton in Greenland. This rhythm corresponds with times when the Solar System traveled through regions of the galaxy that were most densely populated with stars.

"Comets from the furthest limits of the Solar System would have been jostled when traveling through areas of increased star density, some of which struck Earth.

Greater melting of the Earth's surface due to increased comet impact on Earth would have produced the buoyant early continents' nucleus.

The findings, according to Professor Kirkland, cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that crust development is solely a function of internal Earth processes.

According to Professor Kirkland, "our study reveals a fascinating connection between geological events on Earth and the motion of the Solar System in our galaxy."

"A whole new light on the formative history of our planet and its place in the cosmos is cast by linking the development of continents, the landmasses on which we all dwell and where we locate the majority of our mineral resources."

The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Curtin's premier center for Earth Sciences research, is connected to Professor Kirkland.

Researchers from the University of Lincoln, NASA's Johnson Space Center, the Geological Survey of Western Australia, and the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division all contributed to the study.

Curtin University

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