In 2020, NASA and European-Russian missions will look for evidence of past life on Mars. But while volcanic, igneous rock predominates on the Red Planet, virtually the entire Earth fossil record comes from sedimentary rocks.
Space Exploration
May 17, 2019
3
180
Cratons (from the Greek "power" or "might") are the areas of the oldest continental crust on Earth, and are preserved only in only a few places around the world. According to scientists, the Kaapvaal Craton in the South Africa ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 17, 2018
0
8
Search for signs of ancient microbial life in the geological record is challenging due to degradation of the primary organic material. Therefore, proof of biogenic origin often relies on chemical signatures that microorganisms ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 27, 2018
0
20
The early Earth might have been habitable much earlier than thought, according to new research from a group led by University of Chicago scientists.
Earth Sciences
Jun 05, 2018
1
205
Clues from some unusual Arizona rocks pointed Rice University scientists toward a discovery—a subtle chemical signature in rocks the world over—that could answer a long-standing mystery: What stole the iron from Earth's ...
Earth Sciences
May 16, 2018
2
89
The remote Pilbara region of northern Western Australia is one of Earth's oldest blocks of continental crust, and we now think we know how it formed, as explained in research published today in Nature Geoscience.
Earth Sciences
Apr 17, 2018
2
93
Researchers from Curtin University have identified a missing ingredient in the composition of the continental crust, opening up a new chapter in the Earth's geological history.
Earth Sciences
Feb 14, 2018
0
13
The Earth's history is written in its elements, but as the tectonic plates slip and slide over and under each other over time, they muddy that evidence—and with it the secrets of why Earth can sustain life.
Earth Sciences
Sep 22, 2017
0
613
Seismologists investigating how Earth forms new continental crust have compiled more than 20 years of seismic data from a wide swath of South America's Andean Plateau and determined that processes there have produced far ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 23, 2017
0
172
Plate tectonics shape the Earth's dynamic surface. But when did these dynamics first emerge? And will the present-day continents last forever?
Earth Sciences
Aug 23, 2017
0
227
