Scientific accounts say that the earth once completely covered by a sea of magma. Excluding the situation of the age, we have never had proof of this before. Now there are crystals in the rocks that seem to have cooled from this molten sea, taking us as far as possible into the chronology of the planet.
If true, these observations will change our thinking about our present and our past, especially hotspot volcanoes, of which Hawaii is the most famous example. Magma Sea theory derived from the heat produced in the formation of planets. Before it decayed, the earth submerged by massive rocks from outer space, including those responsible for the moon (or more). The heat cooling process of their effect will delayed for a long time.
Eventually, things freeze, the effects become rarer, and the temperature drops. Plate tectonics took over and the remnants of this extreme condition dragged into the interior of the planet for recycling beyond the point of recognition. Alternatively, so we thought. It now appears that at least one such legacy has survived. Dr Helen Williams of Cambridge University said in a statement, Greenland’s Isua supracrustal Belt competes with Australia’s Jack Hills for the title of the world’s oldest rocks. “Events in the first billion years of Earth’s history have very little chance of finding a geological obstruction.”
“Surprisingly, we can even hold these rocks in our hands – let’s go into so much detail about the early history of our planet.” Williams and co-authors have announced in scientific progress that the Isua rocks contain distinct chemistry of crystals, indicating that they formed at the bottom of the magma ocean, where the mantle merged with the original. Decisions have only been possible due to recent advances in understanding how the iron isotope ratio varies depending on the temperature and pressures in which the crystals are contained.
Williams added, “Those iron fingerprint specimens also contain isolated tungsten – which is a sign of the formation of the earth – which makes us think that their source can be traced back to these early crystals.” These crystals then take the path of rotation towards the surface, partially melting and re-installing several times in a process that does not completely erase their previous transformations before they incorporated into the surviving rocks. The authors noted the similarities between Isua rocks and rocks dried by hotspot volcanoes.
“Our interest is whether [hotspots] can and do penetrate into the depths of the interior, usually within our reach,” said Dr. Oliver Shorttle of Cambridge. Answering it may be easier than other searches by authors; to find more examples of magma captured from the ocean. The oceanic crust is recycled every few hundred million year. The continental crust is long lasting but modern continents are still much younger than the planets. Synthetically there are a few spots where the climates make them remote from major cities, which preserve evidence of the first lifeforms, leaving the geological source alone.
