Traces of the World’s Oldest Glaciers Found

We still have very few clues about the past of the planet Earth, on which we have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. One of the points where our knowledge is not high is that the Earth had millions of years ago. environmental conditions.

A new study published on July 12 revealed historical clues to the past. Scientists have discovered traces of the oldest glaciers on Earth. These tracks, contrary to the predictions of many, are in South Africa, under huge gold reserves lies.

These glaciers existed 2.9 billion years ago!

Scientists find traces of glaciers in South Africa 2.9 billion years ago shared the sign. The traces found also directly indicate the presence of glaciers. But they do not belong to the glacier itself.

The traces scientists found were those of ‘moraines’, which are unstratified deposits formed by the glacier mass when the glaciers stretch or advance. Another trace that proves the existence of glaciers lies in isotopes of oxygen from moraines.

scientists in the area 3 different oxygen isotopes examined (¹⁶O, ¹⁷O, and ¹⁸O). Very low amounts of ¹⁸O and high amounts of ¹⁷O were seen in the samples taken from the rocks. This proved that these layers were formed at very low temperatures.

So what is the glacier doing in South Africa?

South Africa is a region we refer to only in present-day Earth geography. Our world and continents, changed shape over millions of yearscontinues to change.

Scientists, on the other hand, have different theories as to why the traces are on these lands. While it is an option for the region to be close to the South Pole, the other option is that the Earth was at that time. “Snowball” to be, that is, to be in an ice age.