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World's Oldest Rocks Found

Posted by timothy on from the and-jagger-wants-'em-back dept.

Smivs writes "The BBC reports that Earth's most ancient rocks, with an age of 4.28 billion years, have been found on the shore of Hudson Bay, Canada. Writing in Science journal, a team reports finding that a sample of Nuvvuagittuq greenstone is 250 million years older than any rocks known. It may even hold evidence of activity by ancient life forms. If so, it would be the earliest evidence of life on Earth — but co-author Don Francis cautioned that this had not been established. 'The rocks contain a very special chemical signature — one that can only be found in rocks which are very, very old,' he said."

3 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. The signature is... by SEWilco · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The signature on the old rocks reads "John McCain".

  2. I'm not so sure about that age thing by siimv · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I recall from some study claiming, that identifying age cannot be accurately estimated by carbon-dating beyond 40000 years or so.

  3. Age of rocks by Lord+Lode · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Aren't all rocks exactly as old? The Earth has always had the same weight, except for a few extraterrestial rocks that landed on it.