Scientific Description of the Event

For the previous Earth Event 4, we explored the development of the water cycle. For this chapter, we are interested about the formation of the large areas of land on the Earth. When and how did the land begin to appear from the water covered Earth that we had at the end of Earth Event 4?

To determine the full story of the large masses of land rising from the water covered Earth, we need to go back to the Hadean Eon. During the Hadean Eon, something important was happening deep inside the Earth. The interior was still very hot and active. Heat from radioactive elements and leftover energy from Earth’s formation caused parts of the thick layer beneath the crust called the mantle to move slowly. This movement helped melt some rocks and create lighter types of magma. When this lighter magma cooled, it formed rocks that were different from the heavy basalt of the ocean floor. These lighter rocks were more buoyant, causing them to float higher in the mantle. This was the beginning of the process that would eventually lead to continents.

By about 4.0 billion years ago, Earth entered the Archean Eon. During this time, the planet was still hotter than it is today, and tectonic activity may have been somewhat different from modern plate tectonics. Tectonic activity is the constant movement, collision, and separation of massive rocky slabs called tectonic plates that float on the Earth’s molten mantle. Instead of large, stable plates moving slowly across the globe, at 4.0 billion years ago the crust may have been broken into smaller pieces that moved more quickly and recycled more often. Volcanic activity was intense. Huge plumes of hot material rose from deep within the mantle, melting rocks and thickening parts of the crust.

Over time, repeated melting and cooling created rocks rich in silica, called granitoids. Granitoids were lighter than basalt. So, as more granitoids formed, certain areas of the crust became thicker and more buoyant. These thicker sections began to rise higher relative to the surrounding oceanic crust. Small pieces of early continental crust, sometimes called proto continents, started to appear. Evidence from ancient rock formations in places like Greenland, Australia, and South Africa shows that by about 3.7 to 3.5 billion years ago, some land was likely exposed above sea level.

As these early land areas formed, they did not look like today’s continents. They were probably small, scattered, and surrounded by vast oceans. They may have resembled chains of volcanic islands or small rocky plateaus. However, they represented an important step. Once crust becomes thick and buoyant enough, it is harder to recycle back into the mantle. This means it can survive for very long periods of time. Over millions of years, these small pieces collided and fused together. When pieces of crust crash into one another, the rock can crumple and thicken, much like pushing two rugs together on the floor. Thicker crust floats higher, helping create more permanent land above sea level.

During the later Archean Eon, especially between about 3.0 and 2.5 billion years ago, these processes became even more effective at building stable landmasses. Large regions of thick continental crust formed. These ancient, stable cores are called cratons. Today, cratons make up the central parts of continents such as Africa, Australia, and North America. The rocks found in these areas are among the oldest on Earth. They show signs of repeated melting, volcanic activity, and crustal thickening that occurred during the Archean Eon.

As the Proterozoic Eon began around 2.5 billion years ago, Earth’s internal heat had decreased somewhat compared to earlier times. This allowed plate tectonics to operate in a more stable and organized way, more similar to how it works today. Continental crust continued to grow as volcanic arcs and smaller landmasses collided with existing cratons. Each collision added more material and increased the size of the continents. Over long stretches of time, these growing landmasses joined together to form some of Earth’s earliest supercontinents. Supercontinents are usually defined as a single landmass that includes at least 75% of the area of the existing land on the Earth at the time.

The Proterozoic Eon also saw the strengthening of continental “roots.” Beneath cratons, thick sections of cool, rigid mantle formed. These deep roots helped protect the continents from being pulled back down into the mantle. Because of this, many cratons that formed in the Archean Eon have survived to the present day. Around the same time, erosion and weathering shaped the exposed land. Rivers carried sediments into the oceans, forming layered rocks that give scientists clues about ancient environments. Fossils of early life, along with chemical signals in rocks, show that continents were interacting with the atmosphere and oceans in new ways.

By the end of the Proterozoic Eon, Earth had large, stable continents that looked much more like the landmasses we recognize today, although their positions were different. These continents would later move, collide, and break apart again during the Phanerozoic Eon, forming supercontinents like Pangaea and eventually the modern arrangement of continents.

In summary, the formation of large landmasses was not a sudden event but a slow process that took billions of years. During the Hadean Eon, Earth cooled enough for a crust to form, though it was thin and unstable. In the Archean Eon, repeated melting and thickening created lighter, buoyant continental rocks that began rising above the oceans. These pieces joined together into stable cratons by the end of the Archaean Eon at 2.5 billion years ago. In the following Proterozoic Eon, continued tectonic activity enlarged and stabilized these cratons into various supercontinents. Supercontinents arose and broke up until about 335 to 300 million years ago when the last supercontinent Pangea was formed. Pangea is the supercontinent that eventually broke up to become the continents that we are familiar with today.

Scientific Evidence for this Event

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How the Event Description Harmonizes with Genesis 1

The rising of large landmasses on Earth are described in Genesis 1:9-10.

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.

 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.”
Genesis 1:9-10

For the sake of determining harmony with Genesis 1, we try to find the times where the description in Genesis 1 is satisfied. In this case, the first time that the masses of land began to rise above sea level was with small protocontinents around 3.7 to 3.5 billion years ago. So, this would be the time when this Earth Event 5 was satisfied. On the timeline, we continue this Earth Event 5 up until close to Earth Event 6 for simplicity and continuity. The parallel between the growth of the landmasses and the description from Genesis 1:9-10 is clear. And the data from the landmasses arising is based on multiple lines of investigation. These include radiometric dating of rocks, evidence from zircon crystals and sedimentary rocks suggesting water movements, measurements concerning tectonic plate movement, and additional modeling of rock movement over billions of years. With the multiple sources of data that match well with the simple description in Genesis 1:9, then the harmony between science and Earth Event 5 of Landmasses Rising is given the rating of Very Consistent.