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Earth has exist for4.54 billion years , and during that time , our planet has undergone a number of vehement transition . This make it difficult for researchers to find out what happened during Earth ’s former history , as most of the evidence was put down eons ago .
However , scientists have bring out ancient rocks break up throughout the globe . These remnants provide a glimpse into Earth ’s infancy and help scientists line our planet ’s development . Here are some of the oldest rocks ever describe and the perceptivity they ply about our home satellite .
A microscope image of a 4.4 billion-year-old zircon
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The Jack Hills, 4.4 billion years old
The Jack Hills , in Western Australia , contain petite traces of rock that are older than the mound themselves . The 50 - mil - long ( 80 kilometer ) ridge contains crystalize minerals predict zirconium silicate date stamp to4.4 billion eld ago , attain them the oldest Earth materials ever discover . Zircon crystals are durable ; they can survive even when the rock’n’roll around them are destroyed , eroded or recycled back into Earth ’s middle stratum . Zircons contain radioactive U , which decays very slowly , thereby help geologist accurately date the crystal . Some zircons in the Jack Hills , which escort to around 4 billion years ago , also hint thatearly Earth had brisk waterjust 600 million years after it formed .
Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, 3.8 billion to 4.3 billion years old
The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in northerly Quebec may concord the macrocosm ’s old preserved rock . Agreenstone beltis a long surface area that mainly contains metamorphose sedimentary and volcanic rock and is theremains of an ancient ocean drainage area . The exact years of Nuvvuagittuq ’s rock is controversial : Some studiesused zirconium silicate to obtain a minimum eld of 3.8 billion years honest-to-goodness , but alater studythat look at parts of Earth ’s primordial crust suggested the careen ' maximum long time was 4.3 billion years honest-to-god , mean it date to the Hadean ( 4.6 billion to 4 billion year ago ) . Subsequent studies continue to debate the swath ’s exact geezerhood . Some researchers have also suggestedthe belt contains grounds of Earth ’s earliest sprightliness — shadow of bacterium dating to between 4.3 billion and 3.7 billion years ago .
touch : What ’s the difference between a rock and a mineral ?
Acasta Gneiss, 4 billion years old
Rocks settle in the Acasta Gneiss Complex in northern Canada have been dated to 4 billion years ago , making them the oldest definitively see rock ‘n’ roll , concord to the educational platformOpen Geology . Gneiss is a case of metamorphic rock that has been subjected tohigh temperatures and pressuresdeep in Earth ’s impertinence . The rock-and-roll was isotopically dated , intend scientists measure the ratio ofuranium atoms that have transformed into lead .
Isua Greenstone Belt, 3.8 billion years old
The Isua Greenstone Belt in western Greenland hold some of the oldest rocks on Earth . However , Isua is also significant because some researchers have argued it hold the early evidence of life on Earth , go out to 3.7 billion old age ago . In 2017 , research worker discovered what looked like tiny wave in a cross part of the surface of a rock music outcrop . The researchers said the ripple are thefossilized remains of cone shape - shaped stromatolites — layered agglomerate of sediment and carbonates that build up around colony of microbes that rise on the floor of shallow sea or lakes . However , this finding is controversial . In addition , Isua entertain " chemical substance fingerprints " of an ancient magma ocean that bubble over much of Earth ’s surface4.5 billion years ago , before long after the satellite ’s birthing .
Barberton Greenstone Belt, 3.5 billion to 4.1 billion years old
Ancient tilt in southern Africa ’s Barberton Greenstone Belt contain grounds for some of theearliest know earthquakes , which occurred around 3.3 billion age ago . The rock ‘n’ roll provide grounds of earlyplate architectonics . In 2021 , researcher published a partialmapof the belt , which reveal " a gigantic jumble of blocks " detach from where they form , Simon Lamb , a geologist at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand who was involved in a laterstudyon Barberton , told Live Science at the time . The bash also check ancient zircons dating to between4.1 billion and 3.3 billion old age ago .
Napier Complex, 3.6 billion to 4 billion years old
The Napier Complex in eastern Antarctica holds zirconium silicate go out to around 3.6 billion years ago and just one zircon dating to 4 billion years ago . " Its import can not be overestimated , since it may indirectly evidence the existence of an former Archean crustal auction block with a minimum age of 4 Ga [ 4 billion year ] , " investigator wrote in a 2011 study of the zircons published in the journalDoklady Earth Sciences . Crustal block , also jazz as mistake blocks , are huge clod of rock formed by architectonic and other forces .
Anshan area, 3.8 billion years old
The Anshan area in northeasternChinaholds the country ’s old rocks and some of the most ancient rocks in the world . Anshan is part of the580,000 - square - mile(1.5 million square klick ) North China Craton , but the most ancient rockscover less than 8 straight miles(20 square km ) .
Big Bertha, 4 billion years old
In 2019 , scientists discovered that one of Earth ’s oldest rocks has drop billions of year away from our planet and only recently returned home . Apollo 14 astronauts collected the roughly 4 billion - year - old tilt , nickname Big Bertha , from the moon ’s surface in 1971 . The stone carry minerals similar to granite and quartz , which are highly rare on the moon , study carbon monoxide - authorAlexander Nemchin , a professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University in Australia , enunciate in astatement . The 2019researchfound that parts of the rock formed in condition that are rare on the lunation but typical on Earth . This finding intimate it formed on Earth but was knocked away from our planet by a giant asteroid impact , before settling on our celestial neighbor , accord toNASA .
A microscope image of a 4.4 billion-year-old zircon
Acasta rock
Isua belt in Greenland
Barberton mountains in southern Africa
Tundra in Antarctica.
Qianshan National Park near Anshan
The rock nicknamed Big bertha
