At 4.4 billion years old, these tiny blue crystals are the oldest on Earth

At 4.4 billion years old, these tiny blue crystals are the oldest on Earth

Feb 24th 2014, 19:17, by Valentina Palladino

The oldest thing on Earth is smaller than a piece of human hair. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, have determined that blue zircon crystals found in a remote part of Australia are 4.4 billion years old, just 160 million younger than the formation of our solar system. The crystals were dug up in 2001 in an area called Jack Hills in Western Australia; researchers believed they were about 4.4 billion years old, but they couldn't prove it at the time.

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