Chitrial
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The 2023 findings
An overview
Dipawali Mitra, February 26, 2023: The Times of India
KOLKATA: Rock samples dating back 4. 1 billion years and bearing traces of the weather-proof mineral zircon have been found in Telangana’s Chitrial, 100km north of Hyderabad, that can shed light on geological events from a dark age when the Earth was in its infancy.
The latest find by researchers from Presidency University, Hiroshima University, and National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) from a relatively young terrain can offer fresh clues about the Earth’s early chemical evaluation and open a window into the first mysterious half-a-billion years of the planet. The findings were published recently in the ‘Precambrian Research Journal’.
Zircon was one of the first minerals to crystallise when the Earth’s crust was being formed out of molten magma during the Hadean age, according to geologists. It is hard and chemically stable, making it resistant to weathering.
A senior geologist, who was part of the study, said the discovery of the Hadean zircon in Telangana indicated that the Earth’s early history could be found hidden in rocks in India. “This is significant. Further study will help us understand the chemical and physical conditions, including the presence of water, in the first few hundred million years of the earth,” Presidency geology professor Sankar Bose said.
The only discovery older than the recent one in India was in the tonalitic rocks of Kendujhar district of Odisha in 2018.
That find was estimated to be more than 4. 2 billion years old. Zircon, a little more than 4 billion years old, has previously been found in Kerala’s Wayanad (in 2016) and from the river Baitarani in Odisha (in 2018). The earth’s oldest zircon (about 4. 4 billion years) was found in Western Australia’s Jack Hill.
Many other minerals and rocks from that era have perished, say geologists, but zircon has survived the test of time because of its extreme physical and chemical resilience. That is why the mineral is called one of the most reliable timekeepers of the earth’s history.
Presidency geology professor Gautam Ghosh, who led the study with research scholars Sneha Mukherjee and Paramita Das, said the initial analyses were done by Hiroshima University Earth and planetary systems science department associate professor Kaushik Das. “But having an instrumentation facility in India helped since alarge amount of analysis was required using extended machine hours,” Ghosh explained.
Only six of the 612 crystals studied by the team were from the Hadean age.
Zircon
Dipawali Mitra, February 26, 2023: The Times of India
_The_quartzite_sample_from_which_traces_of_Hadean_Zircon_was_recovered.jpg)
From: Dipawali Mitra, February 26, 2023: The Times of India
KOLKATA: Researchers from Presidency University, Hiroshima University and the National Centre for Earth Science Studies have found rock samples from Chitrial, around 100 km north of Hyderabad in Telangana, that bear traces of the mineral zircon, which has been found to be more than 4.1 billion years old.
Zircon was one of the first minerals to crystallise when the Earth's crust was being formed out of molten magma during the Hadean age, say geologists. It is hard and chemically stable, making it resistant to weathering. That quality, and the 4.1 billion-year provenance of the current find, can provide clues to the important geological events from that age, say experts.
Geologists believe the latest find from a relatively young terrain can shed light on the first mysterious half-a-billion years of Earth's history. The results of the research were published in the widely circulated and respected Precambrian Research Journal.
A senior geologist, who was part of the study, said the discovery of Hadean zircon from Chitrial indicated that the early history of Earth could be found hidden in the rocks of India. "This is a significant development. Further study will help us understand the chemical and physical conditions, including the presence of water, in the first few hundred million years of the Earth's history," Presidency geology professor and natural and mathematical sciences dean Sankar Bose said. The only discovery older than the recent one in India came from the tonalitic rocks of Kendujhar district of Odisha in 2018; that find was estimated to be more than 4.2 billion years old.
‘Repeated Hadean zircon finds prove Indian geology antiquity’ Zircon a little more than 4 billion years old has previously been found in Kerala’s Wayanad (in 2016) and from the river Baitarani in Odisha (in 2018). The Earth’s oldest zircon discovery, from about 4.4 billion years ago, occurred in Western Australia’s Jack Hill. Many other minerals and rocks from that era have perished, say geologists, but zircon has survived the test of time because of its extreme physical and chemical resilience. That is why the mineral is called one of the most reliable timekeepers of the Earth’s history. Gautam Ghosh, Presidency geology professor who led the study with research scholars Sneha Mukherjee and Paramita Das, said the initial analyses were done by Hiroshima University earth and planetary systems science department associate professor Kaushik Das.
“But having an instrumentation facility in India helped since a large amount of analysis was required using extended machine hours,” Ghosh explained. Only six of the 612 crystals studied by the team were from the Hadean age. Presidency researcher and now an NCESS project scientist, Sneha Mukherjee said the find will open up future exploration possibilities for Indian scientists. The latest discovery from the East Dharwar craton held “significant implications in our efforts to understand early Earth history”, felt Trisrota Chaudhuri, one of the lead researchers who also reported on the 4.2-plus-billion-year-old discovery.
“Remnants of the Earth’s earliest crust existed in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent just like it did in eastern India. Repeated discoveries of Hadean zircon from India prove the antiquity of Indian geology,” the Calcutta University geology department researcher, now a senior Geological Survey of India geologist, said. “There is a lot of debate on whether there was a continental crust in the Hadean period. The discovery of more and more regions with zircon of Hadean and early Archean ages indicates that at least some continental crust existed in the Indian peninsula. It may have had wider geographic distribution than previously thought,” IIT-Kharagpur geochemistry and isotope geology professor Dewashish Upadhyay said.
