S. Turner et al. An andesitic source for Jack Hills zircon supports onset of plate tectonics in the Hadean. Nature Communications. Published online March 6, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14857-1.

The scientists on the new study discovered the onset date of plate tectonics by analyzing ancient zircon crystals from the Jack Hills in Western Australia. Some of the zircons date to 4.3 billion ...

The research provides chemical evidence that plate tectonics was most likely occurring more than 4.2 billion years ago when life is thought to have first formed on our planet.

Zircon crystals are almost indestructible; some still around today are nearly 4.4 billion years old. They're like tiny time capsules that retain the chemical fingerprints of this extremely early time.

Scientists led by Michael Ackerson, a research geologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, provide new evidence that modern plate tectonics, a defining feature of Earth and its ...

Sid Perkins, Plate Tectonics May Have Had an Early Start: Ancient Zircon Crystals Imply Activity during Hadean Eon, Science News, Vol. 175, No. 1 (Jan. 3, 2009), p. 10 ...