Continental clues: Modern continental rocks carry chemical signatures from the very start of our planet’s history, challenging current theories about plate tectonics. Researchers have made a new ...

What is the chemical composition of the Earth’s interior? Because it is impossible to drill more than about ten kilometres deep into the Earth, volcanic rocks formed by melting Earth’s deep interior ...

Earth’s surface environment hosts large reservoirs of hydrogen (H, mainly in the form of water, H2O), nitrogen (in atmospheric N2) and carbon (mainly in carbonate rocks). H, N and C are sometimes ...

Tectonic map of the Earth. The first continental crust on Earth formed more than 3 billion years ago. Likely the first fragments formed by partial melting and re-crystallization of the primordial ...

Scientists have revealed that two continent-size regions in Earth's deep mantle have distinctive histories and resulting chemical composition, in contrast to the common assumption they are the same. A ...

Our planet was born around 4.5 billion years ago. To understand this mind-bendingly long history, we need to study rocks and the minerals they are made of. The oldest rocks in Australia, which are ...

From the wild coasts of Québec to the dusty hills of Western Australia, scientists are chasing the oldest rocks on Earth to unlock our planet’s earliest secrets. These ancient survivors—some over 4 ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Earth's first crust looked ...

Unraveling the mysteries of our planet, scientists have recently discovered the fate of a large chunk of Earth’s crust that has been missing for millions of years. It turns out that the crust was ...