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Exploration on the Origin of Continents

The origin of continental nuclei has long been a puzzle.Theories advanced so far have generally failed to explain the firststep in continent growth, or have been subject to seriousobjections. It is the purpose of this article to examine thepossible role of the impact of large meteorites or asteroids in theproduction of continental nuclei. Unfortunately, the geologicalevolution of the Earth’s surface has had an obliterating effect onthe original composition and structure of the continents to such an extent that further terrestrialinvestigations have small chance of arriving at an unambiguous answer to the question ofcontinental origin. Paradoxically, clues to the origin and early history of the surface features of theEarth may be found on the Moon and planets, rather than on the Earth, because some of thesebodies appear to have had a much less active geological history. As a result, relatively primitivesurface features are preserved for study and analysis. In the case of both the Moon and Mars, it isgenerally concluded from the appearance of their heavily cratered surfaces that they have beensubjected to bombardment by large meteoroids during their geological history. Likewise, it wouldappear a reasonable hypothesis that the Earth has also been subjected to meteoroidbombardment in the past, and that very large bodies struck the Earth early in its geologicalhistory.

The large crater on the Moon listed by Baldwin has a diameter of 285 km. However, if weaccept the hypotheses of formation of some of the mare basins by impact, the maximum lunarimpact crater diameter is probably as large as 650km. Based on a lunar analogy, one might expectseveral impact craters of at least 500km diameter to have been formed on Earth. By applyingBaldwin’s equation, the depth of such a crater should be about 20km. Baldwin admits that hisequation gives excessive depths for large craters so that the actual depth should be somewhatsmaller. Based on the measured depth of smaller lunar crater. Baldwin’s equation gives the depth ofthe zone of brecciation for such a crater as about 75km. The plasticity of the Earth’s mantle at thedepth makes it impossible to speak of “bracciation” in the usual sense. However, local stresses maybe temporarily sustained at that depth, as shown by the existence of deep-focus earthquakes.Thus, short-term effects might be expected to a depth of more than 50km in the mantle.

Even without knowing the precise effects, there is little doubt that the formation of a 500-km crater would be a major geological event. Numerous authors have considered the geologicalimplications of such an event. Donn et al. have, for example, called on the impact of continent-sizebodies of sialic composition to from the original continents. Two major difficulties inherent in thisconcept are the lack of any known sialic meteorites, and the high probability that the energy ofimpact would result in a wide dissemination of sialic material, rather than its concentration at thepoint of impact.

Gilvarry, on the other hand, called on meteoroid impact to explain the production of oceanbasins. The major difficulties with this model are that the morphology of most of the ocean basinsis not consistent with impact, and that the origin and growth of continents is not adequatelyexplained.

We agree with Donn at al. that the impact of large meteorites or asteroids may havecaused continent formation, but would rather think in terms of the localized addition of energy tothe system, rather than in terms of the addition of actual sialic material.

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