Researchers from the University of Adelaide wanted to learn more about the lost continents which vanished while the Earth was still young. They explored their theories and elaborated two studies which aimed to offer more information about the processes which model continents.
The information collected by the researchers infers that the crust of the landmasses was thicker than it was previously thought, existing back to almost four billion years ago. If the new model is validated, it may change how the chemical and physical progression of Earth has been interpreted until now, including how contestants expanded and the formation of the tectonic plates.
Over 75,800 rock samples were tested as the team wanted to evaluate their radioactivity levels, a task which allowed them to craft a complex model which tracks the radioactivity of the stones as eons passed. By harnessing the data, the team discovered that there was more land in the past.
New studies shed more light on lost continents
It is believed that they featured a structure similar to granite or continental-type rocks. The high levels of radioactivity and heat made them more vulnerable, and they may be destroyed by tectonic movements and melting. One of the two studies focused on radiogenic heat, which plays an essential role in the estimation of lithospheric temperatures while also facilitating the task of understanding more about the thermal evolution of our planet.
While some may hope that the discoveries are related to the mythical continent of Atlantis, this is not the case. Plato coined the myth, and it appears in two of his famous dialogues: “Timaeus” and “Critias.” Most researchers believe that Atlantis is a mere legend, but the topic has fascinated humanity for ages.
A researcher who contributed to one of the studies about lost continents mentioned that they could be in the tracking of the effects of global warming by predicting rock radioactivity in places from which it too hard to recover rock samples.
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