Jack Hills zircons: the oldest terrestrial mineral
Circones de Jack Hills: el mineral terrestre más antiguo
- Date
- 2001 · confidence high
- Place
- Jack Hills, Western Australia, Australia
- Credited to
- Simon Wilde, John Valley and colleagues
- People
- 👤 John W. Valley1948–👤 Simon Wilde1960–
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A zircon grain from Jack Hills gave 4,404 million years by uranium-lead dating: only about 150 million years after the Earth formed. Its oxygen isotopes suggest there was already liquid water and continental crust in the Hadean eon, thought to have been a molten hell.
What it led to
- Cool early Earth hypothesis