Curtin University researchers have discovered evidence in southern Australian beach sand of material that originated from the sub ice rock of Antarctica, providing a better understanding of how these lands were once joined.
The research, published today in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, investigated the characteristics of individual sand grains near Albany, in Western Australia, to prove they originally came from Antarctica but travelled to Australia over millions of years.
Lead author Professor Chris Kirkland, from the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University, said while theories differed about how sediment was transported from the once-adjacent landmasses of Antarctica and India to Australia, the new research suggested that these lingering traces of neighbouring continents are more common across parts of WA than currently realised.
“By analysing minerals in the sand, we created a unique fingerprint with which to track these grains as they moved through different positions in the Earth’s crust, and therefore reconstruct the transport pathway back to its origin,” Professor Kirkland said.
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