Abstract
The Earth is old, and in its fabric is written a subtle and complex history. The oldest material ever discovered on Earth consists of a few crystals of a mineral called zircon. These crystals, found in Western Australia, are about 4.3 billion years old. Many of the elements that make up the Earth are roughly 4.6 billion years old, and the planet probably formed soon after that, although much of thç hydrogen in our water may be as old as the universe. For the first 300 million years that Earth existed there is no history recorded in our terrestrial rocks, although the Moon, meteorites and comets preserve earlier material. Some meteorites even preserve traces of events that took place before the formation of the Solar System.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Further Reading
Broecker, W. 1985. How to build a habitable planet. New York: Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Eldigio Press.
Brown, G.C. & A.E. Mussett 1981. The inaccessible Earth. London: Allen & Unwin.
Cloud, P. 1978. Cosmos, Earth and man. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Fowler, C.M.R. 1990. The solid Earth. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1991 Springer Netherlands
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nisbet, E.G. (1991). In the beginning. In: Living Earth. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3056-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3056-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-04-445855-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-3056-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive