Scientists Find Lost ‘Supermountains’ Four Times Longer Than Himalayas
New Delhi, Feb 7: Mount Everest, at its towering height of 8,848 meters, is the tallest in the Himalayan range. Its found that there were ranges that stretched across the continent longer than the Himalayas, these mountain ranges helped in the evolution of the planet. Researchers have tracked the formation of these super-mountains throughout Earth’s history.
Stretching up-to 8,000 kilometers across, they were nearly four times the length of the present-day Himalayan ranges (2,300 kilometers) and formed twice in Earth’s history, the first between 2,000 and 1,800 million years ago and the second between 650 and 500 million years ago.
Researchers believe that there are links between these two instances of super-mountains and the two most important periods of evolution in Earth’s history.
In a study published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, researchers used traces of zircon with low lutetium content — a combination of mineral and rare earth elements only found in the roots of high mountains where they form under intense pressure, to identify these formations.
There is no evidence of other super-mountains forming at any stage between these two events, making them even more significant. Ziyi Zhu, a Ph.D. Scholar at the Australian National University and lead author of the paper said, “There’s nothing like these two super-mountains today. It’s not just their height – if you can imagine the 2,400 km long Himalayas repeated three or four times you get an idea of the scale.”
The first super-mountains are being called Nuna Super-mountain, which coincides with the likely appearance of eukaryotes, organisms that later gave rise to plants and animals. The second that evolved around 650 and 500 million years ago is the Transgondwanan Super-mountain, which coincides with the appearance of the first large animals and the Cambrian explosion 45 million years later when most animal groups appeared in the fossil record.
Researchers believe that there are links between these two instances of super-mountains and the two most important periods of evolution in Earth’s history.
Researchers said that when the mountains eroded, they provided essential nutrients like phosphorous and iron to the oceans, supercharging biological cycles and driving the evolution to greater complexity. The super-mountains may also have boosted oxygen levels in the atmosphere, needed for complex life to breathe.
“The early Earth’s atmosphere contained almost no oxygen. Atmospheric oxygen levels are thought to have increased in a series of steps, two of which coincide with the super-mountains,” Zhu said.
Co-author Professor Jochen Brocks added “What’s stunning is the entire record of mountain building through time is so clear. It shows these two huge spikes: one is linked to the emergence of animals and the other to the emergence of complex big cells.”
Researchers attribute a decrease in evolution rate on the planet between 1,800 and 800 million years to the absence of these super-mountains. This period is known as the Boring Billion. “The slowing of evolution is attributed to the absence of super-mountains during that period, reducing the supply of nutrients to the oceans,” they said.
The new discovery could provide key insights into the evolution of our planet and life as we know today.
