Is bacteria responsible for earthquakes?
Plate tectonics visualised I recently came across this interesting study by Shengxing Zhang, from the Laboratory of Seismology and Physics of Earth's Interior at the University of Science and Technology of China. The study, titled "Photoferrotrophic Bacteria Initiated Plate Tectonics in the Neoarchean," delves into the intriguing connection between ancient photoferrotrophic bacteria and the initiation of plate tectonics during the Neoarchean period. The abstract states: Plate tectonics distinguishes Earth from the other terrestrial planets but its initiation mechanism and onset time are debated. We propose plate tectonics was initiated by the deposition of magnetite-rich banded iron formations (BIFs) through biogeochemical iron cycling in Neoarchean oceans. In the photic zone of proto-continental margins, photoferrotrophic bacteria efficiently oxidized the dissolved Fe(II) and induced massive precipitation of ferric oxyhydroxide, which would rapidly react with Fe(II)-ri
