Date Time WA scientists shed light on continent formation Research from Western Australian scientists has shed new light on how the Earth’s first continental crust was formed. The team of scientists, which included Dr Laure Martin and Mr Matvei Aleshin from The University of Western Australia and was led by the Geological Survey of Western Australia and Curtin University, measured compositions of oxygen in ancient granites in the Pilbara using the ion microprobe Cameca IMS1280 at UWA. The scientists found that the water required to produce the granites did not come from above but was supplied from the mantle, which is the thick layer below the Earth’s crust.