Sea floor records ancient Earth

The baked and twisted rocks, now part of Greenland, show the earliest evidence of plate tectonics, colossal movements of the planet's outer shell.

Until now, researchers were unable to say when the process, which explains how oceans and continents form, began.

The unique find, described in the journal Science, shows the movements started soon after the planet formed.

"Since the plate tectonic paradigm is the framework in which we interpret all modern-day geology, it is important to know how far back in time it operated," said Professor Minik Rosing of the University of Copenhagen and one of the authors of the paper.

Crack and spread
Plate tectonics is a geological theory used to explain the observed large-scale motions of the Earth's surface.

The relatively thin outer shell of the planet is composed of two layers: the lithosphere and the asthenosphere.

The lithosphere - made up of the outer crust and the top-most layer of the underlying mantle - is broken up into huge plates; seven major plates and several smaller ones.

These float above the asthenosphere and move in relation to one another.

Today, oceanic crust is created at plate boundaries known as mid-ocean ridges, where magma rises from the asthenospehere through cracks in the ocean floor, cools and spreads away. Read the Complete story here.

What does Bible say of this?
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters... Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. (Genesis 1:2, 9)

Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains... The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which Thou didst establish for them. Thou didst set a boundary that they may not pass over; That they may not return to cover the earth. (Psalms 104:6-9)

The LORD by wisdom founded the Earth; By understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up... (Proverbs 3:19)

"When He established the heavens, I [wisdom] was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the land; (Proverbs 8:27-29)

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding... Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; (Job 38:4, 8)

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the land was formed out of water and by water, (2 Peter 3:5)