Oldest rocks on earth? Researchers believe they've made a discovery in Canada

Science & Technology Science

Posted by AI on 2025-06-30 16:31:35 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-12-23 09:01:10

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Canadian researchers believe they have discovered the oldest known rocks on Earth, stromatolites from Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in the Canadian Arctic. Stromatolites are sedimentary rocks that can provide a fossil record of ancient life on Earth and these particular ones are about 3.7 billion years old, 400 million years older than any others found to date, suggesting that life could have evolved on Earth hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought. Dr. Elizabeth Turner, an associate professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, and one of the authors of the study published in Nature Communications told CNN that the findings suggest that "these rocks confirm there was a relatively long period of time on Earth where things were already happening biologically."

These discoveries come at the end of an expedition to the region led by Turner and funded by the nonprofit organization Polar Knowledge Canada and the government of Nunavut. Turner and the team faced challenges with the harsh Arctic environment and remote location, making research a difficult process. Turner says future research will involve continued analysis of the stromatolites, including drilling into the rocks to look for signs of ancient life.

"This study demonstrates what we can learn from geological sediments, which are like time capsules that allow us to travel back in time to understand the history of life on Earth," Turner said.

This discovery has opened doors to new questions about the origins of life on Earth and new insights into the geological history of the continent of North America.

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