The source of unrest among tectonic plates

Earth began the process of regenerating surface crust about 3 billion years ago, launching terrible clashes between tectonic plates like today.

A new shell is continually formed on Earth until about 3 billion years ago, when the blue planet began the process of regenerating its surface.

That is the result of a study conducted by the University of Bristol (UK), to find out the answer to the origin of collisions between tectonic plates still happening globally.

The Himalayas are the result of a shift of Indian tectonic plates toward Eurasia

Experts collected sediments on the continents, from Australia, Eurasia, North America and South America, focusing on zircon isotopes in soil samples.

The constituent of the oxygen isotope inside the zircon helps determine whether the sediment belongs to the newly formed shell or of the recycled old crust.

OurAmazingPlanet quoted scientist Bruno Dhuime, isotope geochemist at Bristol University, said the new approach allowed his team to accurately predict the mass of continental crust present throughout the process. chemistry of the Earth.

Accordingly, in the first 1.5 billion years, the rate of shell formation remains high, about 3 km ³ / year, enough to establish about 65% of the Earth's current surface mass.

However, this process has slowed 3 billion years ago, only 1/3 of the previous speed, and instead the recycling process is started.

These changes coincide with the formation of tectonic plates. At that time, the plates of continental and ocean tectonic plates created the surface of the Earth so firmly that they began to collide with tremendous power.

As a result, some tectonic plates plunged below the other disk, causing deadly movements such as earthquakes and tsunamis in the world in recent years.

'Our next challenge is how to identify the tectonic mechanism that created the earth's shell 3 billion years ago,' said Dhuime.

However, the biggest obstacle is hard to find the rocks formed in the early stages.

This study was published in Science.