World’s Oldest Rocks Confirmed in Canada: A Window into Earth’s earliest Days
Ottawa, Canada – July 1, 2025 – A groundbreaking study has definitively confirmed that rocks located on teh shores of Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada are the world’s oldest, dating back at least 4.16 billion years [[1]]. This finding, published today in Science, solidifies a claim initially made in 2008 but previously contested by other scientists [[1]], [[1]].
These ancient formations,known as the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt,predate any other known rock formations by a meaningful 160 million years and represent the only surviving piece of Earth’s crust from the planet’s earliest eon [[1]].
“It’s not a matter of ‘my rock is older than yours’,” explains Jonathan O’Neil, the geologist at Ottawa University leading the research team. “It’s just that this is a unique opportunity to study early Earth” [[1]].
The finding provides an unprecedented glimpse into the Earth’s formation after it cooled from its fiery birth approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Researchers believe the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt offers invaluable insights into the conditions and processes that shaped our planet in its infancy [[1]].
[Image: An artistic impression of Earth during the Hadean eon, when the planet formed its first solid crust-most of which later sank into the mantle never to be seen again.] [[1]]
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Further Reading:
* Original Research: Science1 [[1]]
