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 discovery that ...

The team's calculations showed the protocrust—Earth's earliest crust formed during the Hadean eon (4.5–4.0 billion years ago)—would naturally develop the same chemical signatures found in ...

A study published in Nature on 2 April reveals that Earth's first crust, formed about 4.5 billion years ago, probably had chemical features remarkably like today’s continental crust. This ...

Earth's crust today has a surprisingly similar composition to the planet's first outer shell, or "protocrust," new research finds. This early rocky shell featured chemical signatures previously ...

In a new paper published in Nature today, colleagues and I reveal secrets of Earth’s crust 4.5 billion years ago. In the process, we also provide a new way to approach one of the biggest ...

before pulling it down into the Earth's mantle. This phenomenon is gradually stripping away material from the bottom of the continent's crust. Using a high-resolution seismic technique called full ...

Researchers discover Earth's first crust, formed 4.5 billion years ago, had chemical features similar to modern continental crust. (photo credit: Tanya Kalian. Via Shutterstock) A study published ...

Beneath the American Midwest, on the continent of North America, the underside of Earth's crust is dripping into the planetary interior. There, blobs of molten rock are coalescing in the upper ...