The Earth used to be a

The earth was flat and almost covered by the ocean, only a few small islands jutted out of the water, a new study says.

According to Express, the scientists made the conclusion after analyzing zircon mineral samples in Western Australia. This is considered the oldest dating rock layer ever found.

Early Earth Illustration.

The lead researcher, Dr. Antony Burnham of the Australian National University, said: "The history of the Earth is like a book with the first chapter completely mysterious. But we analyzed the zircon pattern to recreate. what happened at about 4.4 billion years ago ".

"Our research shows that the early Earth did not have mountains and continents did not appear during the first 700 million years . In other words, the Earth was then a completely quiet world. static, "Mr. Burnham said.

Lead researcher, Dr. Antony Burnham.

Dr. Burnham added: "We also discovered traces of zircon from rock samples dating back 1.5 billion years ago, proving that the Earth has undergone a long period of change to become as it was today. now on".

The team published the findings in Nature Geoscience. They found that zircon minerals were created in a completely different way, unlike what happened when the continents on Earth collided.

Zircon mineral samples.

"That proves geological activity does not exist on Earth from the first days , " Mr. Burnham said.

Research by Australian scientists reinforces the theory of "Cold Earth" , arguing that the Earth is full of water and has extreme conditions.

Until 4.1-3.8 billion years ago, the new Earth was bombarded by a wave of meteorites and comets.

That's when the first life forms like bacteria began to form.