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Earth's first continents may have emerged from the planet's primordial oceans much earlier than we thought, just six hundred million years after the planet formed, new research suggests. The ...

A new study of ancient detrital zircons from inland Australia has found the first evidence that the Earth has had fresh water and dry land four billion years ago, much longer than previously thought.

Researchers have examined tiny time capsules found in the oldest-known crystals in an attempt to settle a question that divides scientists: when did Earth’s tectonic plates begin to move? Plate ...

Researchers discovered the earliest record of freshwater, and now crystals may lead researchers to discover when life on Earth began, a new study says. A new study, which was published inNature ...

Earth may have had fresh, not just salty, water as soon as 600 million years after the planet formed — a mere blink of an eye in geologic time. Researchers analyzed oxygen molecules within ...

Analysis of recently discovered zircon crystals reveals a sharp change in Earth’s geochemistry around 3.8 billion years ago. Researchers studying the ancient crystals say the likely explanation is the ...

More than a billion years ago, in a shallow basin across what is now northern Ontario, a subtropical lake much like modern-day Death Valley evaporated under the sun's gentle heat, leaving behind ...

New research hints that plate tectonics began earlier than 4 billion years ago — not long after Earth had formed. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here ...

Salt crystals from Central Australia hold ancient microorganisms that became trapped 830 million years ago, new research finds. And there's a chance that some of the microorganisms might still be ...

What is shelf life on a breath of air? Well, it just so happens that back in northern Ontario, it’s 1.4 billion years. Trapped within crystals of rock salt formed while a subtropical lake dried up, ...