Source : universetoday
When Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, geologists were putting the finishing touches to plate tectonics, the model that explains how the earth’s surface takes shape. More than 40 years later, there are still many puzzles when it comes to our planet. are among the greatest unsolved mysteries on earth.
Why Are We All Wet?
Scientists believe that the earth was a dry rock after its merger 4.5 billion years ago. Where does this essential chemical, H2O come from? from massive impacts about 4 billion years ago. Hit by icy asteroids, Earth could have filled its reservoirs with water during what is known as the late heavy bombardment. But the beginnings of the water of the earth are shrouded in mystery because there is so little evidence left of rocks from that time.
What’s Down There At The Core?
Source : study
The core of the earth has long fascinated writers and scientists. For a time, the composition of Earth’s inaccessible core was a mystery that was solved … at least in the 1940s, scientists measured the original balance of the planet’s essential minerals and determined which ones were missing. Iron and nickel that are missing from the earth’s crust must be in the core, they suspected, but gravity measurements in the 1950s showed those estimates were wrong. Today researchers are still guessing which elements explain the density deficit under our feet. They are also amazed at the periodic reversals of the earth’s magnetic field, which is generated by liquid iron flowing out of the outer core.
How Did Moon Get Here?
Did a titanic collision between the earth and a Mars-sized protoplanet? There is no universal consensus on this huge impactor theory because some details do not work. For example, the chemical composition of both rock bodies is so similar that the moon was born from Earth and not from a separate impactor, but a rapidly spinning young Earth could have thrown up enough molten rock during impact to chemically form a moon .similar, suggest other models.
From Where Did Life Come?
The most basic components of life, such as amino acids and vitamins, have been found in grains of ice in asteroids and in the most extreme environments on earth. One of the biggest hurdles in biology and no direct fossil traces of the earliest inhabitants of the earth, which were probably primitive stone-eating bacteria.
From Where Did All The Oxygen Come?
Source : thechemicalengineer
We owe our existence to cyanobacteria, microscopic creatures that helped radically change the earth’s atmosphere. They pumped oxygen as waste and first filled the sky with oxygen about 2.4 billion years ago. But the rocks show the oxygen levels that rose and fell like a roller coaster for 3 billion years until they stabilized around the Cambrian about 541 million years ago. Did the bacteria pierce the air or was there some other factor? Understanding the transition to an oxygen-rich earth is a key factor in deciphering the history of life on our planet.
What Caused The Cambrian Explosion?
Source : biologos
The appearance of complex life in the Cambrian marks a unique turning point after 4 billion years of geological history. Suddenly there were animals with brains and blood vessels, eyes and hearts, all of which evolved faster than any other planetary age known today. The explanation cited was an increase in oxygen levels just before that Cambrian explosion, but other factors could explain the mysterious rise of the animals, such as the predator-prey arms race.
When Did Plate Tectonics Begin?
Source : pinterest
The thin plates of hardened crust that hit the surface of the earth create beautiful mountain sunsets and violent volcanic eruptions. However, the geologists still do not know when the engine of the plate tectonics got going. Most of the evidence has been destroyed. A handful of tiny mineral grains called zircons survived 4.4 billion years, and scientists tell scientists that the first continental-like rocks already existed. But the evidence for early plate tectonics is controversial. And geologists still wonder how the continental crust forms.
Will We Ever Predict Earthquakes?
At best, statistical models can predict the likelihood of future earthquakes, much like weather experts warn of impending rain. But that hasn’t stopped people from predicting in vain when the next one will arrive; even the largest experiment in 12 years failed when geologists predicted an earthquake in Parkfield, California in 1994 and instruments for the actual earthquake set in 2004 One of the biggest hurdles is that geologists still don’t understand why earthquakes start and end. But there has been progress in predicting man-made aftershocks and earthquakes, such as: Those are connected to waste water injection wells (used for hydraulic fracturing).
