The Strange Circumstances of Earth and the Moon Over Half a Billion Years Ago Contributed Significantly to Our Existence Today.
According to a recent study published in the journal PNAS, a day on Earth about half a billion years ago was longer than today by 2.2 hours, while the Moon drifted away from us by an average of 20,000 kilometers.
This period, spanning from 650 to 500 million years ago, is known as the “Cambrian Explosion.”
Earth and the Moon experienced significant changes hundreds of millions of years ago – (AI Image: Anh Thư).
According to Live Science, the research team led by geologist He Huang from Chengdu University of Technology (China) aimed to clarify the history of Earth’s rotation by examining data collected from marine sediment layers dating back 700 to 200 million years.
These sedimentary rocks helped reconstruct how tides changed across the planet, partly because they reveal the thickness of the oceans.
The team combined this data with tidal force models between the Moon and Earth to map the speed of Earth’s rotation around its axis during this half-billion-year study period.
Ultimately, they discovered a “stair-step” pattern in Earth’s rotation, with two phases during which the planet’s rotation changed rapidly and dramatically, interspersed with more stable periods.
The First Turbulent Phase occurred 650 to 500 million years ago, encompassing the “Cambrian Explosion,” the most significant biological explosion on the planet, when simple organisms rapidly evolved into complex multicellular animals, diversifying species and dominating new ecological niches.
The Second Phase occurred about 340 to 280 million years ago, corresponding to a time when gigantic glaciers covered the planet.
During both periods, days were longer by 2.2 hours, and the Moon was also an average of 20,000 kilometers farther away.
In the first phase, days lasting up to 26.2 hours increased the hours of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface, promoting photosynthesis and leading to major oxidation events that triggered a biological explosion.
This occurred because, over time, the Moon pulled our planet away.
As a result, there were times it drifted farther from us, drawing away Earth’s kinetic energy, which slowed our planet’s rotation and thus lengthened the days.
In the second phase, the emergence of glaciers rapidly transformed Earth into a frigid snowball and led to mass extinctions.
However, after every mass extinction, there is always a subsequent biological explosion, as new species arise and fill the ecological niches left by the disappeared species.
Therefore, it can be said that both events had a profound impact on our existence today.
