Recurrent super highlands since 2.1 Ga reveal rhythmic coupling between deep Earth and surface evolution
Researchers reconstructed global continental elevation over the past 4 billion years by combining a huge dataset of igneous rock chemistry with machine-learning estimates of crustal thickness and isostatic modelling. They found that continents stayed mostly submerged through much of the Archean, then began repeatedly building Tibetan-scale “super highlands” from about 2.1 billion years ago onward, … Read more…