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Analysis of ancient zircon crystals more than four billion years old from Western Australia’s Jack Hills suggests they formed when fresh and salt water came into contact.
The discovery was reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, Milli.Az reported, citing oksu.az.
“We have obtained the earliest evidence that pushes back the onset of the hydrological cycle by 500 million years compared to previous estimates,” the authors of the discovery noted.
Water on Earth moves between land, oceans and the atmosphere through a variety of processes such as evaporation and precipitation. Early in Earth’s history, the availability of fresh water and the initiation of the water cycle created the necessary conditions for the development of early life. However, it is uncertain when this process began.
“We estimated the oxygen isotope composition of the minerals that formed the early continental blocks of the Earth 3.2-4.2 billion years ago. During the analysis, we were able to find preserved evidence of their contact with water. The models showed that the water was also very young,” he explains.
Remarkably, this discovery not only sheds light on Earth’s early history, but also suggests that land and fresh water paved the way for life to flourish in a relatively short period of time.
mA
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