Researchers from Khalifa University discover the oldest land and fresh water on planet Earth

Khalifa University of Science and Technology announced the success of a group of researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences in compiling a more comprehensive picture of the history of planet Earth. The researchers revealed evidence of ancient water processes dating back 4 billion years, which confirms the existence of Earth. Land and fresh water during the early stages of our planet and highlights the environmental conditions important for the evolution of life on Earth.
In detail, the researchers reported this important discovery in the document titled “The beginning of the Earth’s water cycle four billion years ago or earlier,” which was written by the lead author of the study, Dr. Hamid Jamal Al-Din, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences at Khalifa University, along with a team of international researchers. . This study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience, which is ranked in the top 1% of scientific journals in the field of Earth and planetary science.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Durra, Associate Dean of Research and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Khalifa University, said: “We are pleased to announce the important discovery made by Dr. Hamid Jamal Al-Din and his colleagues. This unconventional research is a very important milestone in our understanding of the ancient history of the Earth and carries significant implications.” Deep research concerns the search for evidence of life as early as 600 million years after the Earth’s growth.
Al-Durrah added: “These results shed light on the interrelationship between the water cycle, the emergence of the Earth and fresh water, and the possibility of the emergence and development of life. This research also contributes to enhancing our understanding of the early evolution of the Earth and revealing wide-ranging implications related to astrobiology and the search for life on other planets outside the Earth’s orbit.” “Our planet.”
While Dr. Hamid Gamal El-Din, the study’s lead author, said in a press release: “By examining the age and oxygen isotopes in small crystals of the mineral zircon, we found unusually light isotopic signatures dating back to four billion years ago, indicating that light oxygen isotopes “These are usually the result of hot fresh water altering rocks many kilometers below the Earth’s surface.”
Jamal al-Din explained that evidence of the existence of fresh water can only be explained by the presence of dry lands, where water collects and seeps into the continental crust, saying, “We discovered the oldest evidence of the existence of fresh water and representative evidence of dry lands above the sea,” and that this discovery means that a copy of The origins of life existed less than 600 million years after the Earth’s formation, long before the appearance of dinosaurs or even the oldest known microbial life.
Khalifa University indicated that scientists measured the ratios of heavy oxygen to light oxygen, which is believed to be much lighter in fresh water compared to sea water. After measuring these ratios in more than 1,000 zircon crystals, the researchers found that a large portion of them date back to a period ranging from 3.5 to 4.0 billion years ago and contain radioactive isotopes of light oxygen. Measuring these ratios indicates the possibility of zircon crystals forming from molten volcanic rock, which in turn arose from the interaction of fresh water with rocks.
The university pointed out that researchers, through thousands of computer simulations, have proven that zircon crystals that contain very small values ​​of radioactive isotopes can only result from the interaction between molten volcanic rock systems on the Earth’s crust and fresh water. This discovery provides valuable information about the earliest presence of fresh water and land on Earth and the beginning of the water cycle. It is also likely that these factors contributed to creating the environmental conditions necessary for the development of life in a relatively short time frame of less than 600 million years after the formation of the Earth.
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The oldest life on Earth
Khalifa University confirmed that scientists have made great progress in understanding the origins of life on Earth, as the oldest life on Earth dates back to about 3.5 billion years ago, as it is believed to have originated in hot spring environments on Earth in which fresh water was available, but the specific timing of the large-scale interaction remains. Between fresh water and dry land is uncertain. In addition, in the new study, scientists examined a wide range of different radioactive oxygen isotopes in tiny mineral crystals called zircon that form sedimentary particles in the Jack Hills in Western Australia. Zircon is considered the oldest terrestrial material to date and exists over a period of time extending from the Pacific to the Archaic era, i.e. a period ranging approximately from 4.4 billion to 3.1 billion years ago.
Image Speech: The discovery means that a version of the origins of life existed less than 600 million years after the formation of the Earth.