Unraveling the Mystery of Earth's Continent Formation
New research eliminates the popular hypothesis that the iron-depleted, oxidized chemistry typical of Earth's continental crust came from the crystallization of the mineral garnet. The study uses laboratory experiments to show that the garnet explanation for continental crust's iron-depleted and oxidized state likely did not come from crystallization of garnet, as a popular explanation proposed in 2018. The iron-poor composition of continental crust is a major reason why vast portions of the Earth's surface stand above sea level as dry land, making terrestrial life possible today.