In his view, recognizing these ancient remains of the crust is important for the future of optimized exploration of sustainable resources. In addition to this, their findings help explain the evolution of our planet from uninhabitable to vital, and therefore can give clues as to how life can form on other planets.
“There is evidence that a piece of crust up to four billion years the size of Ireland has been influencing WA’s geological evolution over the last billion years and is a key ingredient in rocks formed in WA during this time, ”said lead researcher Maximilian Droellner in a media release.“ This piece of the crust has survived multiple mountain-building events between Australia, India and Antarctica and appears to still exist tens of miles deep below the southwest corner of WA. “
According to Droellner, when comparing these findings with existing data, it appears that many regions around the world experienced a similar time of early crust formation and preservation.
“This suggests a significant change in the evolution of the Earth about four billion years ago, as meteorite bombardment subsided, the crust stabilized, and life on Earth began to settle.” , the researcher noted.
How they got to the crust
Droellner and his supervisor Milo Barham made the discovery after firing more lasers at human hair to small grains of a mineral extracted from the beach sand.
In detail, the lasers were used to vaporize portions of individual grains of the mineral zircon and revealed where the grains were originally eroded, as well as the geological history of the region.
Prior to this, no large-scale study of this region had been conducted.