'A billion-year mystery': The missing chunk of Earth has been traced, and the location will astonish you
Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Credit: NPS/Carl Bowman
Missing Crust
A massive portion of Earth's crust has long been missing, leaving scientists puzzled—until now, with a new discovery pinpointing its potential location.
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Mystery Unfolds
Named "The Great Unconformity," this puzzling geological gap has baffled experts for over a century as they searched for answers.
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Ice Age Clues
New evidence points to "Snowball Earth," a time when glaciers covered most of the planet, as the force behind this monumental erosion.
Record Gaps
This intense glaciation created sharp age gaps in the sedimentary record, where older rocks vanished, replaced by younger formations.
Canyon Origins
First observed in 1869 at the Grand Canyon, this phenomenon was seen worldwide, earning the title, "The Great Unconformity."
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Rock Loss Scale
According to Dr. Brenhin Keller of the Berkeley Geochronology Center, 3-5 kilometers of rock were stripped globally due to glacial forces.
Billion-Kilometer Void
Dr. Keller estimates over a billion cubic kilometers of ancient rock went “missing” from pre-Cambrian layers, a staggering geological gap.
Credit: NPS/Carl Bowman
Crystal Evidence
Crystals from the Phanerozoic era contain isotopes of hafnium and oxygen, indicating erosion from older rock at icy, low temperatures.
Lost to Sea
The prevailing theory suggests glaciers eroded the rocks and swept them into the sea, hiding Earth's missing crust beneath ocean waves.