{"id":228816,"date":"2025-01-31T16:08:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/31\/ancient-rocks-reveal-when-rivers-began-pouring-nutrients-into-the-sea\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T16:08:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:08:30","slug":"ancient-rocks-reveal-when-rivers-began-pouring-nutrients-into-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/31\/ancient-rocks-reveal-when-rivers-began-pouring-nutrients-into-the-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient rocks reveal when rivers began pouring nutrients into the sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rivers may have operated on a global scale around 3.5 billion years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new find comes courtesy of ancient rocks in China and South Africa. A change in rock chemistry around that time provides the earliest known chemical evidence for the weathering of Earth\u2019s continents<\/a> and the subsequent delivery of nutrients from land to ocean, geobiologist Kurt Konhauser and colleagues report December 12 in Geology<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water chips away at rocks on land, removing minerals and washing them away. \u201cAs soon as you get weathering, you\u2019ve got a nutrient influx to the oceans, which can lead to \u2026 life thriving in coastal waters,\u201d says Konhauser, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n