A billion year old segment of the Earth’s crust was revealed in the southwestern corner of Australia. The find was made by scientists at the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, using advanced laser technology.
The scientists explained that the lasers were used to vaporize portions of individual grains of the mineral zircon and revealed where the grains were originally eroded from, as well as the geological history of the region.
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National Geographic explains that the “Crust” describes the outermost shell of a terrestrial planet. Earth’s crust is generally divided into older, thicker continental crust and younger, denser oceanic crust. The dynamic geology of Earth’s crust is informed by plate tectonics.
The crust of planet Earth is considered to be thin when compared to other worlds. It is 40 kilometers (25 miles) deep and comprises just 1% of the Earth’s total mass. Earth has three layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust is made of solid rocks and minerals.
Ph.D. student Maximilian Droellner was one of the researchers on the project. He commented, “There is evidence that an up to four billion-year-old piece of crust about the size of Ireland has been influencing the geological evolution of WA for the past few billions of years and is a key ingredient of rocks formed in WA across this time.”
This means that the activity of the crust buried deep below the surface caused Western Australia to form into what it now is over the course of billions of years. It is the crust below the Earth’s surface that is credited with drawing the map of the world as it stands today, pushing up mountains and changing coastlines by moving land up or down.
“This piece of the crust has survived multiple mountain-building events between Australia, India, and Antarctica and appears to still exist at tens of kilometers of depth under the South-West corner of WA,” he added. “When comparing our findings to existing data, it appears many regions around the world experienced a similar timing of early crust formation and preservation.”
The scientists say that the find suggests a significant change in the evolution of the Earth some four billion years ago. The researchers believe that as meteorite bombardment of the Earth waned billions of years ago, the crust stabilized and life on Earth began to settle.
Located in Perth, on the west coast of Australia, Curtin University boasts that it is well known for its high levels of research.
Established in 2015, the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group combines 40 years of experience in innovative geochemistry and geochronology pertinent to geological processes underpinning mineral endowment.
Research supervisor Dr. Milo Barham, also from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said no large-scale study of this region had been done before and the results when compared with existing data, had revealed exciting new insights.
“The edge of the ancient piece of crust appears to define an important crustal boundary controlling where economically important minerals are found,” Dr. Barham said. “Recognizing these ancient crustal remnants is important for the future of optimized sustainable resource exploration.”
Mr. Droellner, Dr. Barham and research co-supervisor Professor Chris Kirkland are affiliated with The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), Curtin’s flagship Earth Sciences research institute and the research was funded by the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia.
