A significant portion of the planet's crust has vanished, and researchers have uncovered its location.
In a groundbreaking study published on 18th December 2023, scientists have unveiled new evidence suggesting that severe glacial erosion during the "Snowball Earth" period could be the key to understanding a geological mystery known as "The Great Unconformity."
The Great Unconformity refers to large slabs of the Earth's crust that are missing from the geological record. Dr Brenhin Keller of the Berkeley Geochronology Center, the main author of the study, proposes that these missing chunks could be the result of glacial erosion during the time known as "Snowball Earth."
The theory explains the high number of asteroid craters less than 700 million years old and the scarcity of older ones. It also suggests that more erosion occurred before the Phanerozoic era than initially thought. The eroded sedimentary rocks of the vanished part of the Earth's crust are currently found in the sea beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, specifically under areas like the Ross Ice Shelf, where subglacial water flows and sediment deposits have been detected.
The study calculates that a global average of 3-5 kilometers (2-3 miles) of rock was stripped away due to glacial erosion. One billion cubic kilometers (200 million cubic miles) of pre-Cambrian material is estimated to be missing due to "The Great Unconformity."
The scale of rock loss in "The Great Unconformity" is estimated to be huge. Crystals from the era have hafnium and oxygen isotypes, which are consistent with being eroded from old rock and deposited at low temperatures, supporting the theory.
The phenomenon of "The Great Unconformity" was first observed in 1869 at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Since then, it has been a mystery that scientists have been trying to solve with new technology like space imaging. This new study provides a significant step towards understanding this geological enigma.
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