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Confirmed: Earth's Oldest Rock In Australia
SpamSlapper writes "Australia's ABC Science reports that ancient zircon crystals discovered in Western Australia have been positively dated to 4.374 billion years, confirming their place as the oldest rock ever found on Earth, according to a new study. The research reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, means Earth began forming a crust far sooner than previously thought, following the giant impact event which created the Earth-Moon system 4.5 billion years ago."
Where this rock is about as old as the social and development views of our current Prime Minister..
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
They had to kill the rock to confirm its age.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Yes but, Australia being upside down, the bottom is at ground level.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Not really. The 'Oldest Rock' they're talking about are actually individual mineral grains in a metamorphic rock that used to be sandstone. The zircon sand grains predate the rock they're in by about a billion years. The iron deposts you're talking about come from the same perioid of geologic time as the sandstone.
I'm sure AC/DC will be delighted with their new title of oldest rock on the planet.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
I did not know that scientists had examined and dated every rock on (and every rock within) the Earth! The most spectacular part of this task was back when they dismantled Mt Everest, pebble by pebble, examining and dating every little rock, before re-constructing the mountain from all those sorted rocks.
I agree with your general sentiment regarding fake science, however, a little bit of reading comprehension will go a long way.
oldest rock ever found on Earth
It's not like the summary says "The oldest rock on earth!".