4.28 Billion Year Old Rock
Maybe something that only interests me, but, science is cool, and we all need a break from politics now and then
The discovery of rocks as old as 4.28 billion years pushes back age of most ancient remnant of Earth’s crust by 300 million years.
McGill University researchers have discovered the oldest rocks on Earth – a discovery which sheds more light on our planet’s mysterious beginnings. These rocks, known as “faux-amphibolites”, may be remnants of a portion of Earth’s primordial crust – the first crust that formed at the surface of our planet.
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 previous oldest Earth rock was 3.96 billion years old. You can see, and touch, a piece of it at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. They have also just added a new piece from the same area, but looks a bit different.
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Posted by William Teach on September 28, 2008 4:19 pm
» Filed Under News, Science/pseudo-science
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3 Responses to “4.28 Billion Year Old Rock”
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Syndicate Me
Hah! I share your interest in paleontology and similar pursuits.
I hadn’t seen this one; thanks!
===|==============/ Level Head
Science is awesome when examined judiciously & used wisely.
But there’s many problems in dating rocks: they’re poor conversationalists; lousy kissers; and wicked weapons when one never calls back….
Ahem.
The problem with isotopic dating (more commonly known as ‘radiometric dating’) is that it relies on the faith that all observable natural phenom is a closed system — that no isotopes were gained or lost by the rock since it formed. This faith excludes any ‘metamorphic events’ such as heating, deformation or percolation.’
(Dino bones piggy back off this dubious date tag for their age, but that is another discussion)
Anomalies in radiometric are frequent & extreme. Some results being recorded as high as ten billion years or as low as several million within the same geo column!
These results don’t fit the template & are then thrown out as being from an ‘open system’ due to ‘metamorphic events’.
Can’t have it both ways.
In short, too subjective and manipulated by perception and expectation of results.
Interesting article. Thanks for the heads up!
My son recently found a tooth under my grandson’s pillow and was able to identify it as a tooth from a prehistoric ape. He was able to form a whole skelton from the tooth through scientific means and then dated it back to 10 million years ago! The Tooth Fairy left some beads instead of the dollar my grandson was hoping for!