Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago, during the geological eon known as the Hadean. The name "Hadean" comes from the ...

The oldest terrestrial materials ever dated by scientists are extremely rare zircon minerals that were discovered in western ...

The Hadean Eon, Earth's first geological period, remains shrouded in mystery due to scarce rock records. However, Québec's ...

In a recent study, geologists say Michigan is home to the oldest known rock in the nation. Watersmeet gneiss is found in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Minnesota's Morton gneiss previously held the ...

Scientists agreed the rocky outcrops in a remote part of Quebec, Canada, were ancient. But were they really Earth’s oldest?

The oldest zircons ever discovered came from this rock. Ackerson once found a zircon that's 4.32 billion years old. Zircons that old "are extremely, extremely, extremely rare, ...

Zircon crystals hidden within lunar dust samples collected during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 have revealed that the moon is 40 million years older than previously believed.

Remains of this key transitional species date to a mysterious "black hole" in the fossil record.

The mineral zircon forms when the elements zirconium, silicon, and oxygen crystallize in magma or metamorphic rock. Over time, repeated heating and cooling adds outer layers to the crystal, like ...

Researchers initially believed the unnamed meteorite hit Earth 1.17 billion years ago, creating the Stac Fada Member rock layer in northwestern Scotland.

An obscure rock formation on the eastern shore of Canada's Hudson Bay may contain the oldest known rocks on Earth, a new ...

We are part of a research team that has confirmed the oldest known rocks on Earth are located in northern Québec.__ ...