Researchers at the Australian National University found that giant mountain ranges they call supermountains were at least as high as the Himalayas and stretched 4,970 miles (8,000 kilometers) across entire supercontinents. According to SciTech Daily, researchers believe these supermountains played a crucial role in the evolution of early life on Earth.
They traced zircon and lutetium, a combination of rare elements found only in the roots of high mountains, to understand the formation of supermountains. The study showed that they formed during periods of supercontinent formation. Most of them rose between 2,000 and 1,800 million years ago and formed again between 650 and 500 million years ago.
Formation of Two Supermountains
When shifting tectonic plates smash into landmasses together, they push surface rocks and form mountains that could grow for hundreds of millions of years. Although, even the loftiest mountain ranges have an expiration date caused by erosion and other forces that whittle those peaks away.
According to Live Science, supermountains once split supercontinents in two about millions of years ago. ANU postdoctorate student Ziyi Zhu said in a statement that there is nothing as remarkable as these supermountains today. More than their height, these giant mountain ranges spread across thousands of miles three to four times longer than the Himalayas.
Scientists studied the minerals from the remnants of those peaks on the crust. They found zircon crystals that span twice the distance from Florida to California formed under pressure deep below heavy mountain ranges. They said the precise elemental composition of zircon crystals could reveal the conditions in the crust and where they were formed.
Furthermore, they detected low amounts of lutetium in zircon that reveals two spikes of extensive formation of the supermountains throughout Earth's history. Previous studies also hinted at the existence of another mountain called Transgondwanan Supermountain that crosses the vast supercontinent of Gondwana that includes landmasses of modern Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, Arabian, and Indian Peninsula.
Supermountains Involved in the Evolution of Early Life on Earth
The new study, titled "The Temporal Distribution of Earth's Supermountains and Their Potential Link to the Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen and Biological Evolution," published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letter, discussed the formation and destruction of these two supermountains that may have also fueled the two largest evolutionary times in Earth's history.
Professor Jochen Brocks, a co-author of the study, said that their study showed that these two giant mountain ranges are linked to the emergence of animals and other big cells.
Science Daily reported that it was likely when the mountains eroded, it provided essential nutrients into the sea that supercharged biological cycles and drove evolution to greater complexity. More so, it may have boosted oxygen levels in the atmosphere needed for complex life.
Zhu said that the increase in oxygen levels in the atmosphere coincides with the timeline of the erosion of the supermountains. They noted that the slowing evolution between 1,800 ad 800 million years ago could be attributed to the lack of supermountains. The Boring Billion, as they call that period, had little to no advance in evolution that likely reduced the supply of nutrients to the oceans.
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