Oldest Rocks on Earth Found

Oldest Rocks on Earth Found

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Scientists have found the oldest known rocks on Earth. They are 4.28 billion years old, making them 250 million years more ancient than any previously discovered rocks.

In 2001, geologists found an expanse of bedrock, known as the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt, exposed on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec.

Suspecting that the rocks there could be from one of the earliest periods of Earth's history, geologists took samples to try and determine their age. They measured tiny variations in the isotopes (or species of an element that have different numbers of neutrons) of the rare earth elements neodymium and samarium in the rocks and determined that the samples were from 3.8 to 4.28 billion years old.

The oldest dates, which came from rocks that geologists call "faux amphibolite," are thought to be ancient volcanic deposits. They beat the previously oldest known rocks, which are 4.03 billion years old and come from a formation called the Acasta Gneiss in Canada's Northwest Territories.

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Not sure where to put this, so mods feel free to move it if necessary.

This latest find brings us to within 300 million years of the believed date of earth's own formation, which to me is simply remarkable. I have great difficulty seeing how stellar detritus formed into our planet in that time--enough time to leave it in a state stable enough that, 4.3 billion years later--can still find physical evidence of earth in its infancy. As I said, remarkable.

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Nice find! Every day people, despite our roiling and thrashing about over stupidity like celebrities and other such transient nonsense, we must not forget to acknowledge the quest for fact, is as important as the quest for truth.

good find indeed

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