Following a recent discovery by McGill University researchers, geologists from around the world are flocking to northern Quebec for a chance to study the world's oldest rocks.
The McGill team, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Quebec and the Carnegie Institute for Science, discovered the prehistoric rocks on the Hudson Bay coastline. Found in the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, these rocks, called faux-amphibolites, are an estimated 4.28 billion years old. According to Jonathan O'Neil, lead researcher and McGill earth and planetary sciences PhD student, this means they were formed only three hundred million years after the Earth's formation-an unprecedented discovery.
"This is the oldest piece of continent, or crust, discovered on the Earth's surface to date and will open up a whole new field of study for us," O'Neil said.
The chemical composition of these rocks will help geologists understand when and how life began on Earth. In addition, O'Neil's study suggests that a shallow ocean existed in the region approximately 4.2 billion years ago.
McGill University researchers used isotopic dating, which measures the decay of neodymium-146 into samarium-146, to determine the rocks' age. A method typically used on meteorites, the isotopic dating process can only be used on rocks 4.1 billion years or older.
"Before the discovery of these rocks, the oldest rocks known were four billion years old, found in the Northwest Territories," O'Neil said.
This type of isotopic dating had never before been used on rocks found on Earth.
According to O'Neil, the Inuit community located 35 kilometres southeast of the geological unearthing was proud to take part in the monumental discovery.
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