50 years ago, scientists thought they had found Earth’s oldest rocks
Excerpt from the July 21, 1973 issue of Science News
The oldest known rock on Earth, dating to about 200 million years after the planet formed, lies within bedrock in northeastern Canada (shown).
Jonathan O'Neil/NSF
Oldest rocks — Science News, July 21, 1973
Until recently, Greenland possessed the oldest known rocks in the world. They date back 3.7 billion years (SN: 12/9/72, p. 374). Now granite and crystalline schist specimens … suggest that the Antarctic Continent is older.