Yangtze River’s Ancient Origins Revealed, page 1

The Yangtze River in China is 40 million years older than was previously thought, according to new research. A study of minerals by a team led by Durham University reveals that the Yangtze River began to cut the Three Gorges area around 45 million years ago, making it much older than previously believed.

The new findings, published in Geology, show that sediments from the Three Gorges, previously analyzed by researchers and dated as being only 1-2 million years old, must have been deposited long after the Three Gorges were cut.

It was argued that the merger of these streams gave rise to the progressive development of a much larger, east-flowing river system that became the Yangtze River. Many scientists agreed that the most likely point of merger of the streams was in the Three Gorges area. Dr Alex Densmore said: "The fact that erosion had removed all of the evidence of the old, pre-merger river courses made dating the river particularly difficult. "Prior attempts to date the Three Gorges placed their age at only 1-2 million years but this was based on sediments found within the gorges. If this were the case, the river would have had to have been carved into the rocks very quickly, and this would have required extremely high incision rates. Link

40 million years older than originally thought!

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Additionally, there are new estimates on the formation of the Earth and the Moon - it seems they may be younger than once thought...

ATS related thread - Sun and Moon

ScienceDaily - Sun and Moon Formation Later Than Thought...

It appears that the scientific community is continuously re-evaluating the original estimates.

We never stop learning!