The Language of Rocks: Decoding Earth's Ancient History
If rocks could speak, they’d tell tales of roaring volcanoes, shifting continents, and ancient creatures that once roamed the Earth. Silent yet powerful, rocks are Earth’s greatest storytellers, preserving secrets of a planet always in motion. Look closely at the ripples on a sandstone slab. These aren’t random—they’re fossilized traces of ancient rivers or shallow seas, shaped by flowing currents from ages ago. A limestone cliff might reveal a story of tropical seas filled with life, now frozen in fossilized coral and shells. Metamorphic rocks, with their sharp folds, hint at the intense heat and pressure buried deep within Earth’s crust. In India, rocks have incredible tales to tell. The Gondwana coal beds speak of lush prehistoric forests that thrived during the Carboniferous period. The towering Himalayas are a living testament to tectonic plates colliding—a process that’s still shaping our planet today. Scientists act as translators of this rock language. Using radiometric dating,...