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Geologists rely on tiny crystals of the mineral zircon to understand the timing of key events in Earth's early days, like the rising of continents and the emergence of oceans.
Geologists rely on tiny crystals of the mineral zircon to understand the timing of key events in Earth's early days, like the rising of continents and the emergence of oceans.
Geologists rely on tiny crystals of the mineral zircon to understand the timing of key events in Earth's early days, like the rising of continents and the emergence of oceans.
Plate tectonics refers to how humongous slabs of solid rock glide over Earth's mantle, the layer just below the crust. These continental slabs shift, fracture and collide, causing earthquakes to occur, mountains to grow and oceans to form. Besides Earth, no other known planetary bodies have plate tectonics, the researchers said. It's likely that Earth has life because of plate tectonics, For instance, over time, rocks capture carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that helps to warm Earth (although too much CO2 can lead to global warming), and plate tectonics ensures that these rocks eventually ...
E-Mail IMAGE: Zircons studied by the research team, photographed using cathodoluminescence, a technique that allowed the team to visualize the interiors of the crystals using a specialized scanning electron microscope. Dark circles... view more Credit: Michael Ackerson, Smithsonian. Scientists led by Michael Ackerson, a research geologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, provide new evidence that modern plate tectonics, a defining feature of Earth and its unique ability to support life, emerged roughly 3.6 billion years ago. Earth is the only planet known t...