A team of scientists from Chengdu University, led by academic Wang Chengshan, has published a study in the renowned journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the result of an international collaboration involving experts from institutions such as the Paris Observatory, the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics in Germany, and Trinity College in Dublin, among others.

The study, directed by researchers Huang He and Ma Chao from Chengdu University, has shed light on the evolution of Earth’s rotation over the past 700 million years, a topic of great relevance for understanding the Earth-Moon system and its influence on planetary dynamics.

By combining geological records with theoretical astronomical calculations, the researchers managed to reconstruct how Earth’s rotational speed has changed, revealing a staircase-like pattern of deceleration. This finding suggests that Earth’s rotation has not slowed down uniformly, but in stages, over hundreds of millions of years.

The Chinese painting co-created by the team and the painter Luo Jingwen of the Institute of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting of Sichuan showed the tides and the evolution of the terrestrial system affected by the rotation and slowdown step by step of the earth.
The Chinese painting co-created by the team and the painter Luo Jingwen of the Institute of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting of Sichuan showed the tides and the evolution of the terrestrial system affected by the rotation and slowdown step by step of the earth. Credit: Chengdu University

This work is part of projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which aim to delve deeper into the evolution of the continental system and the monsoon system. The research also involved teams from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, who provided essential data for the analysis.

The study’s results indicate that, over the last 700 million years, the distance between the Earth and the Moon has increased by approximately 20,000 kilometers, while the length of the day on Earth has increased by about 2.2 hours, clear evidence of the impact of gravitational interactions on Earth’s rotational dynamics.

One of the most innovative aspects of this research is the use of analytical methods such as Monte Carlo and Bayesian calculations, which allowed the scientists to obtain precise estimates of Earth’s rotational parameters during different historical periods.

Through these methods, it was possible to confirm the reliability of current tidal models, which explain the deceleration of Earth’s rotation due to energy dissipation by tides generated by gravitational interaction with the Moon.

Additionally, the study suggests that significant geological events, such as the formation of supercontinents and the development of glaciations, have also influenced Earth’s rotational speed.

This work is not only crucial for understanding the evolutionary history of the Earth-Moon system but also has significant implications for climatology, biology, and geology. For example, the researchers found that periods of deceleration in Earth’s rotation may have created favorable conditions for the evolution of early marine ecosystems, highlighting the interconnection between geophysical and biological processes.

The impact of this research has resonated widely within the scientific community, especially at a time when other recent studies have indicated that global warming is accelerating the deceleration of Earth’s rotation due to glacier melting.

These findings, published in high-impact journals such as Nature and PNAS, have generated great interest and debate regarding the long-term consequences of changes in Earth’s dynamics. According to these studies, the rate of deceleration of Earth’s rotation has increased significantly in recent decades, a trend that is closely linked to current climate changes.

SOURCES

Chengdu University of Technology

He Huang, Chao Ma et al., Geological evidence reveals a staircase pattern in Earth’s rotational deceleration evolution. PNAS 121 (33) e2317051121. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2317051121

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