Studying zircons is important for understanding when the first signs of life appeared on Earth. Previously, scientists couldn’t say for sure whether these zircons came from sedimentary rocks containing magma, which could indicate that rock weathering and plate tectonics were already present on the young Earth.
Traditional methods of zircon analysis have yielded mixed results. A new technique based on machine learning has made it possible to identify with high accuracy (96%) the presence of S-type zircons formed from magma containing sedimentary rocks, suggesting that weathering, sedimentation and plate tectonics may have occurred as early as 4 billion years ago.
Scientists have also discovered a link between S-type zircon peaks and the formation of supercontinents, with continental collisions appearing to increase the number of such zircons and reduce their decay.
Source: Ferra
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