New study provides answer to how continents formed on Earth 2.5 billion-years-ago

A new study has provided a deeper insight into how continents were formed on Earth 2.5 billion-years-ago.

Researchers also focused on those processes have continued within the last 70 million years to profoundly affect the planet's life and climate.

The study detailed how relatively recent geologic events, volcanic activity 10 million years ago in what is now Panama and Costa Rico, hold the secrets of the extreme continent-building that took place billions of years earlier.

The discovery provided new understanding about the formation of the Earth's continental crust, masses of buoyant rock rich with silica, a compound that combines silicon and oxygen.

The continental mass of the planet formed in the Archaean Eon, about 2.5 billion years ago. The Earth was three times hotter, volcanic activity was considerably higher, and life was probably very limited.

Many scientists think that all of the planet's continental crust was generated during this time in Earth's history, and the material continually recycles through collisions of tectonic plates on the outermost shell of the planet.

But the new research showed "juvenile" continental crust has been produced throughout Earth's history.

Melting of the oceanic crust originally produced what today are the Galapagos islands, reproducing Achaean-like conditions to provide the "missing ingredient" in the generation of continental crust.

The researchers discovered the geochemical signature of erupted lavas reached continental crust-like composition about 10 million years ago. They tested the material and observed seismic waves travelling through the crust at velocities closer to the ones observed in continental crust worldwide.