Interdisciplinary research spanning multiple areas of earth and planetary sciences that bridges traditional boundaries within this field
2 papersA layer of nanodiamonds, including the rare hexagonal diamond lonsdaleite, was discovered in the Greenland ice sheet. This layer likely dates to the last deglaciation and may correlate with the Younger Dryas boundary layer in North America, suggesting a possible large impact event around 12,900 years ago. Further research is needed to confirm the dating and explore this hypothesis.
By analyzing melt inclusions in 3.27 billion-year-old rocks from South Africa and using sophisticated computer simulations of early Earth, researchers propose that a large amount of continental crust may have formed during the Hadean eon (>4 billion years ago). Their models suggest up to 80% of the present-day continental crust could have been extracted by the late Hadean. These findings suggest a much earlier and potentially more rapid continental growth than previously thought.