The Oldest Rocks on Earth Are in Canada, and They're 4.16 Billion Years Old
Discover how scientists found and dated the oldest rocks on the planet, and why studying them can help explain how life on Earth first began.
By Stephanie Edwards
Jun 27, 2025 3:55 PMJun 27, 2025 4:56 PM
(Image Credit: Danita Delimont/Shutterstock)
Canada is the land of hockey, maple syrup, and a tendency to end every sentence with the word “eh” – it’s also home to the oldest rocks on Earth.
A new study, published in Science, confirmed that the oldest rocks on Earth are located in the Canadian province of Quebec as part of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt. The rocks, dated to 4.16 billion years ago, were formed during the Hadean Eon, the oldest geologic eon in Earth’s history.
“This confirmation positions the Nuvvuagittuq Belt as the only place on Earth where we find rocks formed during the Hadean eon, that is, the first 500 million years of our planet’s history,” said Jonathan O’Neil, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Ottawa, in a press release.
Earth is constantly remaking itself through processes like melting and recrystallization. These processes make it difficult to trace the early history of our planet as rocks are formed and reformed.
For this study, researchers first found these ancient rocks in 2017 near Nunavik, Quebec, and have been working on accurately dating them ever since. They combined both petrology and geochemistry to help reach their conclusion by figuring out when the rocks first crystallized.
More:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/the-oldest-rocks-on-earth-are-in-canada-and-theyre-4-16-billion-years-old
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