Supermountains, the Boring Billion, and Their Connection to Life on Earth

Twice in the Earth’s history, massive ranges of supermountains have formed on ancient continents.

Studies like these point to something we do know for sure: from the highest peaks to the smallest cells, geology and biology are deeply intertwined. And while it’s often said that we are stardust — built from elements forged in the hearts of dying stars — in a sense, we also might be supermountain dust.

They were perhaps as tall or taller than Everest but their distinguishing feature was their massive breadth — we’re talking ranges 5000 miles long, three to four times the length of the Himalayas — just a unbelievable volume of earth. And their formation may have “fueled two of the biggest evolutionary boom times in our planet’s history”.

That’s a lot of rock to erode — and, according to the researchers, that’s why these enormous mountains are so important.

As both mountains eroded away, they would have dumped tremendous amounts of nutrients like iron and phosphorus into the sea through the water cycle, the researchers said. These nutrients could have significantly sped up biological cycles in the ocean, driving evolution to greater complexity. In addition to this nutrient spillover, the eroding mountains may have also released oxygen into the atmosphere, making Earth even more hospitable to complex life.

I also learned about the Boring Billion from this video, a billion-year period of relative “tectonic stability, climatic stasis and slow biological evolution” nestled in-between the two supermountain eras.

• Earth
• geology
• paleontology
• science
• video