Days were shorter in the past—how ancient mollusks could prove it

[zakiyatasnim]

Scientists at the University of Brussels have studied the fossils of an ancient mollusk using a laser. It was already known that days on the planet are getting longer. However, an ultra-precise analysis of trace element data in the creature's shell has allowed scientists to obtain the most accurate data on the length of a day on Earth 70 million years ago.



Ancient stopwatches
To get the data, the scientists studied an extinct rudist mollusk. This group of mollusks once played the role that corals play today in building reefs. The mollusk belonged to the species Torreites sanchezi and lived 70 million years ago on the shallow tropical seabed that is now land in the mountains of Oman in the Middle East.

This ancient mollusk grew very quickly, forming a ring on its shell kuwait number data every day for the nine years it lived. A team of researchers analyzed the mollusk's shell to gain insight into time and life in the late Cretaceous period, about 5 million years before the dinosaurs and these mollusks went extinct.

History of shellfish
The scientists used a laser to puncture microscopic holes in the clam's shell and then examined them for the presence of various trace elements. The trace elements provided information about the temperature and chemical composition of the water in which the clam lived.

Because the ancient organism stored information about changes in different seasons in its shell, researchers were able to identify weather conditions and calculate the actual length of the year. The rings formed in winter were darker. Based on the data obtained, scientists concluded that during the mollusk's life, a year lasted 372 days, and days passed in 23.5 hours, not 24, as we are used to.