Continents on Ancient Earth Were Created by Giant Meteorite Impacts, Scientists Find

We know of only one planet that has continents.

Because the edges of continents are thousands of miles apart, we know that at one time, Earth's landmass was concentrated in a single large supercontinent.

Something must have caused that supercontinent to break apart. Evidence suggests that giant meteorite impacts played a significant role.

A piece of Earth's crust that has remained stable for over a billion years is what the smoking gun is made of.

It is the best-preserved chunk of crust on the planet and contains evidence of meteorite impacts.

The top-down process of melting rocks near the surface is consistent with the geological effect of giant meteorite impacts.

Our research shows that the processes that formed the continents were similar to those that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The work was done on 26 rock samples that were older than 3 billion years.

The research team carefully looked at the ratios of oxygen-18 and oxygen-16, which have 10 and 8 neutrons. The formation temperature of the rock in which the isotopes are found is determined using these ratios.

The team was able to distinguish three different stages in the formation and evolution of the Pilbara Craton.

The first stage is the formation of a large amount of zircons. The researchers think that this partial melting was the result of bombardment by meteorites.

According to the team's interpretation, the oldest cluster was the result of a single giant impact.

The second and third stages were a period of stabilization and melting of the granite. The cratons found on other continents around the world evolved to become today's continents.

Many meteorites have hit Earth in larger numbers than the continents. It's the largest impact that can create enough heat to create the cratons.

The strongest evidence yet for the theory is the fact that these findings are consistent with previous models.

Out of 35 known, it is just one. To make the evidence even stronger, the team will have to compare their results with more samples from other countries.

Johnson said that the data showed patterns similar to those in Western Australia. To see if our model is more widely applicable, we want to test our findings on the ancient rocks.

The research was published in a journal.