The history of the Earth goes back more than 4.5 billion years and during this time it has experienced many turbulent changes.. However, there was also an incredibly boring period in the planet's history, spanning from 1.8 billion to 800 million years ago, writes IFLScience.

If we were able to look at Earth during this period, we would probably be disappointed: the planet was incredibly flat, with no towering mountains, but with many featureless oceans covered in stinking foam. Scientists note it was so unremarkable in Earth's history that scientists called it the "

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Note that some researchers have tried to refute this label, arguing that this period in Earth's history was actually more dynamic than previously thought. However, their attempts were not justified: science claims that the "

Between 1.8 billion and millions of years ago, the Earth entered a period of relative stasis that marked minor changes in biological evolution, geology, climate, and ocean and atmospheric chemistry.

Back in 2021, scientists published a study showing that this period was also a time of unremarkable plate tectonic activity. This created a period of significant reduction in mountain building.

It is known that mountains are formed due to the slow collision of tectonic plates, causing them to be crushed. This is exactly how, according to scientists, the Himalayas were formed about 50 million years ago - then the Indian tectonic plate crashed into the Eurasian. As a result of this collision, huge sections of the earth's crust were displaced and pushed upward.

The results also indicate that during the Earth's boring billion years, the crust was significantly thinner and more uniform than it is today. And to such an extent that mountains simply did not exist on Earth. Instead, the planet was dominated by vast oceans and flat landmasses. These conditions imply that tectonic activity likely slowed significantly, and perhaps stopped completely, for about one billion years.

Scientists now believe that tectonic activity may have been the determining factor that triggered this painfully boring period.. Shifting tectonic plates help enrich the world's oceans by mixing sediment and crust, releasing more nutrients into the water..

The abundance of nutrients creates a fertile environment that supports the life and evolution of more species. It is assumed that without tectonic movement, the oceans could simply become stagnant and less dynamic, slowing down the rate of evolution.

At the same time, scientists note that it is still unclear why exactly tectonic activity stopped during a boring billion years, and also what reignited it. And yet, when the earth's crust began to move again, it led to radical changes in the earth's atmosphere, oceans and life in general.. The study authors also note that no matter how boring it may seem at first glance, this period is actually a good example of the fact that all Earth systems are deeply interacting and inseparable from each other.

Previously, Focus wrote that scientists have discovered huge ancient landforms under the North Sea.