How are continents formed? This is one of the greatest mysteries of the earth sciences, but it seems that scientists have managed to get a little closer to solving it thanks to a new understanding of the process leading to the creation of the continental crust.
Previously, researchers believed that the multilayered crust is constantly “recycling” itself. We are talking about those processes as a result of which giant plates of the crust from time to time sink under each other, in order to subsequently rise again and repeat the "dance" that leads to the formation of continental massifs.
However, the results of a study by American scientists forced geologists to rethink these processes. It is quite possible that certain parts of the earth's continents are not "overworked", but a new continental crust is formed as a result of melting of the oceanic crust, which occurs in the subduction zone. So, according to the researchers, the melting of the oceanic crust led to the formation of a land area known today as the Galapagos Islands.
The research by scientists led by Dr. Esteban Gazelle from Virginia, USA, was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.