Nature Geoscience
Published August 13, 2018 (Media release from Nature Research Press)
Earth’s oldest-known evolved rocks, which are four billion years old, may be the result of asteroids slamming into the Earth’s crust and causing it to melt. The study found that Earth’s oldest evolved, or granitic, rocks, which form part of the Acasta Gneiss Complex in The Northwest Territories, have compositions distinct from those typical of Earth’s ancient continental crust. These differences suggest they formed through a different process.
Corresponding author: Tim Johnson, Curtin University, Australia – tim.johnson@curtin.edu.au