Author: Stacy Liberatore for Dailymail.com

Published: November 29, 2021 at 13:32 EDT | Updated: November 29, 2021 at 13:33 EDT

A new study shows that the explosion of marine life 2 billion years ago helped form the mountains on Earth, including the iconic Himalayas.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen found that after a sharp increase in oxygen about 2.3 billion years ago, a large number of nutrients filled the ocean, causing cyanobacteria or plankton.

Once a large number of plankton die, they will fall to the bottom of the sea and form graphite, which plays a vital role in lubricating the rock to break into plates.

This allowed huge plates to overlap each other to form mountains over the next millions of years.

A new study shows that the explosion of marine life 2 billion years ago helped to form mountains on Earth, including the iconic Himalayas (pictured)

Professor John Parnell, who led the research, said in a statement: “Mountains are an important part of the landscape, but large mountains were formed only halfway through the history of the earth, about 2 billion years ago.

"The geological record of this period includes evidence of a large amount of organic matter in the ocean, which was preserved in the shale in the form of graphite when they died."

Although the formation of mountains is usually related to the collision of tectonic plates, causing huge rock slabs to be pushed to the sky, the study believes that plankton is a key factor in creating natural structures.

The Great Oxidation Event occurred about 2.3 billion years ago. It was the first time that the Earth’s atmosphere and shallow sea experienced an increase in oxygen content. It released oxygen to the ocean and formed a large number of cyanobacteria.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen found that after a sharp increase in oxygen about 2.3 billion years ago, a large number of nutrients filled the ocean, causing cyanobacteria or plankton

Once a large number of plankton die, they will fall to the bottom of the sea and form graphite. Graphite plays a vital role in lubricating the rock to break into plates.

Once the plankton die, their carbon-rich remains will fall to the bottom of the sea and be converted into graphite, which acts as a natural lubricant.

According to research published in the journal Nature, plankton undergoes several developments before death.

This includes larger and developed sheaths or coverings, which increase the quality of cellular carbon.

"The peak period of orogeny during the Paleoproterozoic period was about 2 Ga [2 billion], which was marked by a large number of individual orogenic belts34, the overall length of the orogenic belts 34 retained, and the high incidence of metamorphism,” the study wrote .

The team pointed out that this triggered the first widespread formation of high mountains on Earth, most of which appeared between 1.95 and 1.65 billion years ago.

The team pointed out that this triggered the first widespread formation of high mountains on Earth, most of which appeared between 1.95 and 1.65 billion years ago

Parnell said: "Although it has long been known that the tectonic process is lubricated, our research shows that the absolute abundance of carbon in the ocean plays a key role in the thickening of the earth's crust that forms the mountains."

"We can see evidence in northwestern Scotland. In places like Harris, Terry and Gaillock, we can still find the roots of ancient mountains and the slippery graphite that helped build them."

"In the end, our research shows that the key to the formation of mountains is life, which shows that the earth and its biosphere are closely related in an unprecedented way."

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