Researchers in Canada have found 4.28 billion year old rocks, probably the world’s oldest, and which may be remnants of a portion of the first crust that formed at the surface of our planet, known as the primordial crust.
The ancient rocks were found in Northern Quebec, along the Hudson’s Bay coast, 40 km south of Inukjuak in an area known as the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt.
The researchers who made the discovery estimated the age of the terrestrial rocks using isotopic dating, which analyzes the decay of the radioactive element, neodymium-142, contained within them, a technique that can only be used to date rocks roughly 4.1 billion years old or older.
The Earth is 4.6 billion years old, and remnants of its early crust are extremely rare – most of it has been mashed and recycled into Earth’s interior several times over by plate tectonics since the Earth formed.
The discovery team included McGill University earth scientists, Jonathan O’Neil and Don Francis teamed up with Richard W. Carlson, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., and Ross K. Stevenson, a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
The discovery, whose results are published in the September 26 issue of the journal Science, pushes back age of most ancient remnant of Earth’s crust by 300 million years, according to the researchers.
O’Neil said: “Our discovery not only opens the door to further unlock the secrets of the Earth’s beginnings. Geologists now have a new playground to explore how and when life began, what the atmosphere may have looked like, and when the first continent formed.”
Image credit: Poolie via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Very Interesting. Perhaps the primordial constituents of the creation of life are fossilized.
Hello, I found a rock near where i live in wayne county ny in 2006. It is the size of a human heart, extremely hard and has purple garnet encrusted in it. I took the rock to hobart & williamsmith university. I was told that it is over 4 billion years old and was brought down from canada during the last ice age. I have tried breaking it with hammer and chisle, diamond tip power tools and I can barely scratch it. It is a realitively heavy rock for its size. I have looked at many rocks but cant seem to find another like it. I am afraid to keep trying to break it open. Afraid I might damage any gems that might be inside. My question is, Is there away to seperate the gems from the rock or possibly x ray it? Thank you, Timothy
That is pretty cool that you found such an old rock. What gave you the idea that it was so old? As for your question, we are not familiar with other ways to evaluate the rock. I would contact your local geologist in your area for direction.
The very DNA of the beginnings of creation could be in the substance there, the very individuality of species and separation of genuses from Darwinianism in to unique and individual life forms all separate from one another. Perhaps primordial water is there and a theory for out oceans from it, and for a gentle creation, not a violent one.
how sure are these guys of the dates?… how will you know its billion years old?