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IMAGE: A transmitted light view through a 200-micron section of a peridotite sample, showing the three main minerals - olivine (clear-green), orthopyroxene (grey-green) and garnet (pink). view more
Credit: Dr Emma Tomlinson, Trinity College Dublin.
Geologists have developed a new theory about the state of Earth billions of years ago after examining the very old rocks formed in the Earth s mantle below the continents.
Assistant Professor Emma Tomlinson from Trinity College Dublin and Queensland University of Technology s Professor Balz Kamber have just published their research in leading international journal,
Nature Communications.
The seven continents on Earth today are each built around a stable interior called a craton, and geologists believe that craton stabilisation some 2.5 - 3 billion years ago was critical to the emergence of land masses on Earth.