Edit/ Seham  Abedin

According to research and analysis by scientists, a new study revealed that the continental crust first appeared on the Earth's surface about 3.7 billion years ago, half a billion years ago than thought.

A record of these minerals is kept in the ancient rock record, and geologists traditionally research marine carbonates to study ancient weathering.

However, carbonates dating back more than 3 million years are rare, and when they can be found, they have usually changed since then through geological processes.

To overcome this, geologists are now transformed into a different mineral, baryte, which is formed when sulfate in ocean waters interacts with barium from hydrothermal events.

The exact timing of the appearance of the continental crust during what is known as the abyssal inflorescence has implications for the history of tectonic plates, ocean chemistry and the origins of life.

The author of the study, Désiré Rordinck, said: "The composition of the barrette we have now picked up, which has been on the ground for three and a half billion years, is exactly the same when it was actually deposited.

Geochemist from the University of Bergen, Norway, added:

"In essence, it's really a wonderful record of looking at operations on the early Earth.

In their study, Professor Rordink and his colleagues tested six different barite deposits, located on three different continents, ranging in age from 3.2 to 3.5 billion years old.

For each sediment, the team calculated the proportion of different stronchium isotopes inside the rock, from which it was possible to infer when changing continental rocks made their way into the ocean and ended up in the barite.

Based on their findings, the Panel concluded that continental weathering began for the first time about 3.7 billion years ago, 500 million years earlier than thought.

And this is a huge period of time, and Dr. Rordinck said: "It has fundamental implications for the way we think about how life evolves," he said, explaining that while scientists usually believe that life began in the deep sea, in hydrothermal environments, the biosphere is complex. He continued: "We don't really know if it's possible that life developed at the same time on Earth, but then that Earth must exist.

In addition, researchers have shown that the early emergence of Earth may improve our understanding of the tectonics of the Earth's dynamic plates and origins.

And Rordinck says: "To acquire Earth, we need processes that work to form that continental crust, and to form a crust that is chemically different from the oceanic crust."

The full results of the study will be presented at the 2021 EGU General Assembly Meeting, held from 19 to 30 April