Signs that a part of mainland Australia once belonged to North America

Also known as Columbia, Nuna is a supercontinent that geologists believe has existed between 2.5 and 1.5 billion years ago. Now, there is new evidence to show how the fragments from this supercontinent have merged together - Australian scientists have found boulders in northern Queensland Australia, suited to Canadian rocks. .

The rocks with distinctive geological signs not known anywhere else in Australia, were found near the small town of Georgetown, located about 412 km (256 miles) west of Cairns. They are thought to be very similar to the stones currently found in Canada's pre-Cambrian shield area.

Leading researcher Adam Nordsvan, a graduate student at Australia's Curtin University, said: "Our research shows that about 1.7 billion years ago, Georgetown rock was stored on shallow waters when the area This part of North America, the continent of Georgetown, then left North America and collided with the Isa mountain region of northern Australia about 100 million years later, which is an important part of the reorganization of the whole continent. when almost all continents on Earth come together to form supercontinent called Nuna ".

It is now believed that when the Nuna continent was broken about 300 million years later, the Georgetown area was still stuck with the rest of Australia. This contrasts with the current theory that Georgetown has been a part of Australia for a long time.

This finding has been published in Geology. Participating in this study are scientists from Monash University and Queensland Geological Department.

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