Oldest Rocks on the Planet Discovered in Canada Adapted from Information by the University of Ottawa and OpenGeology Scientists have been debating the age of volcanic rocks from northern Québec, Canada, for years. It all began with a Ph.D. student, Christian Sole who was working on his master’s thesis under the leadership of Jonathan O’Neil, Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa). Christian studied core samples collected in 2017, near the municipality of Inukjuak, Nunavik, in the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, located along the eastern shoreline of the Hudson Bay in northern Québec. According to his research, the rocks sampled showed signs of being some of the oldest preserved rocks on the planet from the Hadean Eon 4568 to 4000 million years ago. Named for the Greek God of the Underworld - Hades, the Hadean Eon is often described as hell on earth. Which is appropriate since the planet was covered with magma oceans boiling on the surface along with noxious gases and steam at the time. Discovering how and when the planet’s crust formed during the first billion years of its existence has been complicated since there are few geological remnants. Our planet recreates its crust through melting and resolidifying, erasing much of its early history. There are mineral fragments from the Hadean Eon, but there is little consensus on whether any intact, primordial crust still exists. In fact, preserved physical rocks of the Hadean Eon were thought to be nonexistent - until now. O’Neil, who supervised the original study, explained, “The results obtained during Christian Sole’s master’s were very promising. We continued the research after he completed his master’s to confirm the exceptional age of these rocks.” This major discovery is the fruit of a collaboration involving Christian Sole, who completed a master’s at uOttawa in 2021; Hanika Rizo, a Professor at Carleton University; Jean-Louis Paquette, a researcher at France’s Centre national de la recherche scientifique in the Université Clermont-Auvergne’s Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans; David Benn, a former student at uOttawa; and Joeli Plakholm, a former student at Carleton University. The current study shows intrusive rocks crossing the volcanic formations are 4.16 billion years old, confirming the volcanic rocks are older and that this region is indeed home to the oldest known rocks on earth. “This confirmation positions the Nuvvuagittuq Belt as the only place on earth where we find rocks formed during the Hadean Eon, that is, the first 500 million years of our planet’s history,” said O’Neil. To establish the age of these rocks, researchers combined petrology and geochemistry and applied two radiometric dating methods using different isotopes of the elements samarium and neodymium as two separate chronometers indicating the same age, 4.16 million years. This discovery opens a unique window on early earth development. “Understanding these rocks is going back to the very origins of our planet. This allows us to better understand how the first continents were formed and to reconstruct the environment from which life could have emerged,” stated O’Neil. Editor’s Note: In between our print issues, the WWDR Team prepares an electronic newsletter called E-News Flash by WorldWide by WorldWide Drilling Resource®. This newsletter is filled with articles not included in our print issue. Based on readership, this was the most popular article of the month. Get in on the action and subscribe today at: worldwidedrillingresource.com “For over 15 years, the scientific community has debated the age of volcanic rocks from northern Québec. Our previous research suggested that they could date back 4.3 billion years, but this wasn’t the consensus,” O’Neil recalled. ENV Time for a Little Fun! August Puzzle Solution: kingfisher bison parakeet locust newt hyena warbler Win a prize! Send completed puzzle to: WWDR PO Box 660 Bonifay, FL 32425 fax: 850-547-0329 or e-mail: michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com Match the three-letter words on the right to complete the seven-letter words on the left. DORM_ _ _ ATE EXPL_ _ _ OWN HIGH_ _ _ ANT UNKN_ _ _ ORE VIBR_ _ _ WAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2025 WorldWide Drilling Resource®
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