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 ...

These new observations challenge the longstanding Hadean paradigm - based on no observational evidence - of a desiccated, lifeless, continent-free wasteland in which surface petrogenesis was largely ...

Gray rocks uncovered in northern Nunavik, Quebec, Canada may be the ultimate primordial find. The stones date back 4.16 ...

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

Our planet has been asteroid-smashed, melted and eroded, enough that most of its original armor has been long buried. Except ...

Rocks older than 4.03 billion years could shed light on Earth's earliest geological history, but they're incredibly rare.