Hidden beneath kilometers of ice in Antarctica are the remains of ancient supermountains, and it appears that these particular mountains played a pivotal role in the launch of the development of complex life on Earth.
It is believed that the ancient supermountains, which once rose above the current Antarctic continent, may have been a major driver of the development of complex life on Earth.
Geologists have discovered that the fracturing of these massive mountain ranges provided the oceans with essential nutrients and led to a significant increase in oxygen emissions into the atmosphere. The results of this large-scale study were published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Until recently, the precise sizes, origins, and dimensions of these mountain systems, buried beneath a multi-kilometer-long ice sheet, remained a mystery. Bai Chen of the German Geosciences Union and Jan H. Campbell of the Australian National University studied microscopic grains of sand that were swept away by these mountains millions of years ago and deposited on the ocean floor surrounding the continent.
The two scientists studied 1,712 zircon grains from the ocean floor surrounding Antarctica. This mineral can be considered a natural geological clock, as the uranium within it decays at a constant rate, allowing for precise dating of rocks.
It turns out that the mountains were formed 650-450 million years ago, when the plates of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana collided. Their mountain ranges stretch for 8,000 kilometers, three times the length of the Himalayas, and their height exceeds 8,000 meters.
As water and glaciers carved through the mountains, phosphorus and iron, essential for photosynthetic organisms, were released into the ocean. The rapid growth of these organisms boosted oxygen production. Meanwhile, sediment from the mountains quickly buried organic matter on the ocean floor, allowing oxygen to accumulate more readily in the atmosphere.
Scientists believe that the timing of the formation of these mountains coinciding with the development of early complex life is not a coincidence.
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