Ancient crystals reveal that Earth began recycling its crust and forming continents billions of years earlier than scientists ...

Earth’s earliest crust, formed over 4.5 billion years ago, has long been thought to have lacked the complex chemical features associated with continental crust. However, a recent study published in ...

The building blocks of the first continents are comprised of three types of granitoid rocks—tonalite, trondhjemite and granodiorite (TTG). Credit: Jaana Halla Geoscientists have uncovered a missing ...

In the arid deserts of Ethiopia, a geological marvel has been quietly unfolding since 2005—a 35-mile-long fissure known as ...

Ever been late because you misread a clock? Sometimes, the "clocks" geologists use to date events can also be misread. Unravelling Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history with rocks is tricky business. Case ...

Seismic imaging has exposed two massive zones hidden deep in Earth’s mantle. These giant blobs, known as large low-velocity provinces, or LLVPs, stretch beneath Africa and the Pacific. They are so ...

The discovery stems from the unearthing of well-preserved fossil leaves in the Laisong Formation of Nagaland, dating back ...

Aaron J. Cavosie receives or has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the US National Science Foundation, and NASA. Alec Brenner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive ...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Ever been late because you misread a clock? Sometimes ...