The continents are archives of Earth's evolution. Analysis of the isotopic signature of continental crust globally suggests that buoyant, silicic continents began to form 3 billion years ago, possibly linked to the onset of plate tectonics.
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Lee, CT., McKenzie, N. Rise of the continents. Nature Geosci 8, 506–507 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2476
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2476