Greenland rocks provide evidence of Earth formation process
(Phys.org)—Rocks dating back 3.4 billion years from south-west Greenland's Isua mountain range have yielded valuable information about the structure of the Earth during its earliest stages of development. In these rocks, which witnessed the first billion years of Earth's history, a French-Danish team led by researchers from the 'Magmas and Volcanoes' Laboratory (CNRS) have highlighted a lack of neodymium-142, an essential chemical element for the study of the Earth's formation. This deficit supports the hypothesis that between 100 and 200 million years after its formation, the Earth was made up of an ocean of molten magma, which gradually cooled. The work, which was carried out in collaboration with the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon (CNRS) and the University of Copenhagen, was published on 1 November 2012, in the journal Nature.