Tag: Earth History
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Forests on Land Sparked Deep-Sea Life: A Deep-Time Connection
Introduction: A surprising bridge between forests and the deep sea For decades, scientists have puzzled over how life first began to thrive in the ocean’s dark depths. A growing body of research suggests a dramatic link: forests that covered continents hundreds of millions of years ago may have kickstarted life far below the waves. By…
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How Forests Kicked Off Life in the Deep Sea: A Deep-Time Evolution Tale
From Forest Floors to Ocean Depths: A Connected Timeline Long before oceans teemed with fish and corals, forests on land were already shaping the destiny of life on Earth. Recent findings show that vegetation and the oxygen it produced played a pivotal role in turning the deep sea from an oxygen-starved void into a thriving…
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Forests on Land Sparked Deep-Sea Life Worldwide
When forests reshaped the oceans About 400 million years ago, Earth’s land was beginning to resemble a green canopy of complex forests. For the oceans, this terrestrial transformation mattered profoundly. A new wave of research suggests that as forests expanded and thrived on land, they pumped more oxygen into the atmosphere. That oxygen didn’t stay…
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Moon Birth Clues from Ancient Australian Rocks Unearthed
New evidence from Earth’s oldest rocks Scientists are turning to Earth’s earliest archives to rewrite a chapter of planetary history. In Western Australia, researchers have analyzed feldspar grains dated to about 3.7 billion years ago, seeking clues about the cataclysmic event that formed Earth’s Moon. While the Moon’s origin is traditionally linked to a colossal…
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Ancient Australian rocks clue the Moon’s dramatic birth
Unveiling a long-standing mystery New research from the University of Western Australia suggests that some of the planet’s oldest rocks, buried deep in Western Australia, could deepen our understanding of the Moon’s dramatic birth. The study, which centers on exceptionally ancient feldspar minerals dating to about 3.7 billion years ago, offers a fresh angle on…
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Oldest Meteorite Impact Crater Found in WA, Australia
A discovery in Western Australia reshapes Earth’s early history Planet Earth’s early years were a brutal place. The surface was frequently scarred by space rocks as the young planet cooled, atmosphere formed, and life began its slow climb. The latest fieldwork from Curtin University raises the stakes in this story: a site in Western Australia’s…
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Oldest Meteorite Impact Crater Could Be Right Here in WA’s Pilbara
Earth’s Early Scars: A Crater Older Than Time Earth’s violent youth is a well-worn tale: a lethal asteroid, a planet in upheaval, and a crust still forming. In the Pilbara region of Western Australia, scientists are rewriting parts of that story. A team from Curtin University says they may have found the oldest meteorite impact…
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Ancient supernova signature found in Pacific sediments
What the spike means A recent international study has uncovered an unusual spike in beryllium-10 (Be-10) within Pacific Ocean sediments. Be-10 is a radioactive isotope produced when cosmic rays collide with Earth’s atmosphere. Its presence in higher-than-normal amounts can act as a cosmic fingerprint, offering clues about dramatic astronomical events that may have influenced our…
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A Giant Asteroid Struck Australia 11 Million Years Ago — The Hidden Tektite Field
A Hidden Record of a Giant Impact Scientists from Curtin University have joined researchers from Aix-Marseille University to reveal a giant asteroid strike in Australia 11 million years ago. The evidence does not come from a crater but from a field of tektites, natural glass formed when an asteroid melts rocks at the surface and…
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Sea Sponges: Earth’s First Animals Revealed by MIT Study
Sea Sponges: Earth’s First Animals – What the New MIT Findings Suggest A team of MIT geochemists has sparked renewed debate about the origins of animal life by presenting evidence from some of the planet’s oldest rocks. In a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers argue…