 "Indian, Japanese scientists discover 600 million-year-old ancient ocean")
High up in the Himalayas, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Niigata University, Japan have found droplets of water caught in mineral deposits that were probably left from an ancient sea which existed around 600 million years ago.
The scientists found both calcium and magnesium carbonates in the deposits analysis, which helped them to crack the puzzle of the origins of the major oxygenation event in earth's history, Bengaluru-based IISc said in a release on Thursday.
"We have found a time capsule for paleo oceans," says Prakash Chandra Arya, PhD student at the Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS), IISc, and first author of the study published in 'Precambrian Research'.
600 Million Year Old Ocean Water In Himalayas: Snowball Earth glaciation
The researchers believe that between 700 and 800 million years ago, thick sheets of ice covered the Earth for an extended period, called the Snowball Earth glaciation (one of the major glacial events in Earth's history), PTI reported.
What followed this was an increase in the quantity of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere, called the Second Great Oxygenation Event, which in the long run prompted the development of complex life forms. So far, researchers have not completely understood how these events were related because of the absence of well-preserved fossils and the vanishing of all past oceans that existed in the earth’s history. Exposure of such marine rocks in the Himalayas can give a few explanations, the institute mentioned.
600 Million Year Old Ocean Water In Himalayas: Time Capsule
“We have found a time capsule for paleo oceans. We don’t know much about past oceans. How different or similar were they compared to present-day oceans? Were they more acidic or basic, nutrient-rich or deficient, warm or cold, and what was their chemical and isotopic composition? Such insights could also provide clues about the Earth’s past climate, and this information can be useful for climate modelling,” stated Prakash Chandra Arya, Ph.D. student at the Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS), IISc, and first author of the study published in Precambrian Research.
The deposits found by the team, which go back to the time of the Snowball Earth glaciation, indicates that the sedimentary basins were removed of calcium for a lengthy period, most likely because of low riverine input.
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600 Million Year Old Ocean Water In Himalayas: The long hunt
IISc stated that the team chased after these deposits across a significant length of the western Kumaon Himalayas, expanding from Amritpur to the Milam glacial, and Dehradun to the Gangotri glacier region.
Utilising broad laboratory analysis, they had the option to affirm that the deposits are a result of precipitation from ancient ocean water, and not from different spots, like the Earth’s interior (for example, from submarine volcanic activity).