Scientists Can Now Trace Earth's History in Individual Grains of Sand

Grains of sand on a beach can tell us more about the history of the planet than we might think.

Scientists have developed a new metric to determine the age distribution of the mineral zircon in sand. More about the evolution of the surface of the Earth across billions of years can be revealed with the use of that fingerprints.

When continents crash into each other, Zircon can be formed. These crystals can be billions of years old and have a lot of history with them.

zircon is resistant to geological erosion, and as it forms, it stores information along with it.

A time stamp of the rock's age is preserved in its makeup as the crust grinds together. It is possible to gather traces of this history even after it is broken into tiny grains.

The world's beaches faithfully record a detailed history of our planet's geological past, with billions of years of Earth's history imprinted in the geology of each grain of sand.

By figuring out the age distribution of zircon in a sand sample from infants to the elderly, the new technique allows scientists to work out what mountain-generating events were taking place in the past.

According to the researchers, the approach is able to shed light on how Earth first developed a biosphere.

This new research technique can be used to understand tectonic movements even when the age of the deposit itself isn't known.

The team put their new method to the test with three case studies that showed how the age distribution fingerprint works.

There are many young grains on the west side of South America that were created from the sinking of the continental shelf, which caused earthquakes and volcanoes in the Andes.

On the east coast, all is relatively calm geologically and there is a mix of old and young grains picked up from a diversity of rocks across the Amazon basin.

The new analysis was in line with previous research. The researchers say that individual grains of sand can reveal the forces that created them.

The researchers suggest that the new technique can be used to reanalyze data from older studies, as well as to tease out more details from suitable sediment in future research.

Barham says that the new approach allows a greater understanding of the nature of ancient geology in order to reconstruct the arrangement and movement of tectonic plates on Earth through time.

The research has been published.