when scientists believed that continents first formed. Last year, scientists from China and Australia published a paper arguing that Archean zircons could only be formed by subduction—when two ...

Scientists think that the very first continents formed between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years ago, during the Archean period. To study this period, researchers often examine rare mineral deposits ...

However, the oldest preserved, clearly emergent blocks (3.2–3.5 Bya) occur only in the Barberton and Pilbara regions, and continents appear to have gained mass ever since. Why would Archean ...

Much of continental crust formed during the Archean Eon is still part of the continents today as seen in the Rocky Mountains at Banff National Park, Canada. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert!

The Archean Eon (4–2.5 million years ago ... Even so, its geology records can be accessed at excavation sites on modern continents like Australia. But researchers have long remained perplexed ...