GEOGRAPHIC EXTREMES SOCIETY
AUSTRALIAN RECORDS
Rocks
The formation of our first earthly minerals occurred during the Hadean Eon, as the first rocks cooled on the planetary surface. The oldest-known terrestrial material discovered are zircon crystals, found in rocks belonging to the Jack Hills and Mount Narryer in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region.
Map of Jack Hills supplied by University of Wisconsin
First recognised by a Curtin University study group in 1984, three researchers, Wilde, Baxter and Pigeon published evidence of ancient rocks from a site now famously known as W74. The dating of these tiny zircon crystals revealed an amazing age of 4.404 billion years old. The zircon crystals were embedded in younger gneiss rocks, which are still very ancient, dated at 3.6 billion years old.
Image supplied by John Valley. University of Wisconsin
It implies that the zircon crystals survived an 800-million-year period that saw surrounding crystals, and for that matter, every other bit of the crustal surface, melted down or transformed by pressure over and over again, leaving only a faint trace of surviving zircon crystals within the 3.6-billion-year-old gneiss metamorphic rock.
Image supplied by NASA. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Zircon
The geological community is still debating the significance of these crystals, as they indicate that there may have been interaction with cool water which would throw our understanding of early crustal formation on its head. But while the scientists are still deliberating this point, it’s exciting to speculate that the Jack Hills is home to the oldest surviving terrestrial material. were laid down.
Rocks Records
GES Record : Oldest Rocks on Earths Surface – Zircon Crystals within Gneiss rocks of the Jack Hills, Western Australia. 4.404 Billion years old. Source – NASA
The Geographic Extremes Society welcomes any input as to the veracity of these records and we encourage everyone to contribute to these extreme records by contacting us to initiate the discussion