Messenger for the oldest known Rock

Watch the video! Mark Brown becomes the messenger for the Oldest Known thing on the planet, The Acasta River Gneiss. As he works towards educating people about the importance of this rock he meets like minded people along the way who share his enthusiasm.

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Acasta River Tree Garden

Check out the Acasta River Memorial Tree Garden.

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The oldest rock on Earth

Own a piece of the oldest rock on earth.

“We now proudly display a piece of the oldest rock on earth. The Acasta River Gneiss is a fine example of nature's artwork.”

Charlene Bankston - University of Alabama in Huntsville, Physics and Astronomy Department

I first want to thank you for all of the effort and hard work you have put into sharing these amazing rocks with so many people who otherwise would never have the opportunity to come into contact with such a piece of history. I am so impressed with all you’ve done! So, thank you...

Hans Teichman - Secondary Science Teacher

When you think that this rock is 4.03 billion years old, then all human civilization, everything we've thought and done, it's just nothing. It's overwhelming to think that , in the grand scheme of things, we're insignificant. At the same time, it brings out an ephemeral kind of experience. Life is valuable because it's so brief.

Geologist Gina Marie Ceylan, PhD.

For me, the Acasta gneiss offers a vision of hope because it represents the foundation of everything. It reminds me that we are but a small part of the whole Earth, indeed, the whole universe. At the same time, we are a critical part of the whole becuase we are capable of such thoughtlessness, violence and destruction. Of course, we are also capable of thoughtfulness, great brilliance and healing ways. We must choose. If our decisions lead to life, then generations will live to marvel at the great age of the Acasta gneiss. Otherwise, the ancient rock will remain, but only the wind will tell its story.

Carolyn Pogue - Author

Pendants

Large Rough cut sample

Memorial Tree Garden

Science & Geological

Timeline

The basic timeline of a 4.6 billion year old Earth, with approximate dates:

- 4.03 billion years since the Acasta River gneiss appeared
- 3.6 billion years of simple cells (prokaryotes)
- 3.4 billion years of stromatolites demonstrating photosynthesis
- 2 billion years of complex cells (eukaryotes)
- 1 billion years of multicellular life
- 600 million years of simple animals
- 570 million years of arthropods (ancestors of insects, arachnids and crustaceans)
- 550 million years of complex animals
- 500 million years of fish and proto-amphibians
- 475 million years of land plants
- 400 million years of insects and seeds
- 360 million years of amphibians
- 300 million years of reptiles
- 200 million years of mammals
- 150 million years of birds
- 130 million years of flowers
- 65 million years since the dinosaurs died out
- 2.5 million years since the appearance of the genus Homo
- 200,000 years of anatomically modern humans
- 25,000 years since the disappearance of Neanderthal traits from the fossil record.
- 13,000 years since the disappearance of Homo floresiensis from the fossil record.

Geology

Without getting into a lot of complex geology and mineralogy, the planet Earth is currently thought to be approximately 4.6 Billion years old. An early crust formed and a few microscopic fragments dating as far back as 4.1 billion years have been found but never an outcropping 4.03 billion years ago, part of the crust was metamorphosed into this Tonalite Gneiss, making it the oldest known rock in the world. Prior to this discovery the oldest known rock was at Isukasia, Greenland, dated at 3.8 billion year, and the oldest known rock in North America, at 3.4 billion years came from the Minnesota River valley in the U.S.A. The discovery of this rock is an important scientific-geological find and from now on most textbooks will refer to the 4.03 billion year old Acasta River Gneiss, Northwest Territories, Canada.

The ca. 4.0 Ga Acasta Gneisses, located on a series of islands and adjacent mainland along the Acasta River on NTS map sheet 86G/04 (approximate coordinates 65 10’N, 115 34’ W), represents the oldest known intact fragment of continental crust on Earth (Bowring et al., 1989a; Bowring and Housh, 1995; Bleeker and Stern, 1997; lizuka et al., 2006, 2007). Attention was first drawn to these rocks when Bowring et al. (1989a) published their landmark paper on the ca. 3.96 Ga U-Pb age of zircons from the site. Since then, a number of research teams have visited and sampled the rocks and refined the radiometric age data. Recently, lizuka et al. (2006) published the first, albeit indirect, evidence for even older, ca 4.2 Ga crust in this region. The Acasta gneiss site represents a unique and finite scientific resource, and also highlights the geology of the NWT, and specifically Wek’eezhii (tlicho Settlement Area) from a tourist and cultural perspective. In addition, public interest in owning a piece of the Earth’s oldest rocks has sustained modest businesses selling pieces for souvenirs (e.g., http://rockofagesnwt.com/)

Relf, C. and Ketchum, J., 2008. Non-renewable Resource Assessment (Phase 1), Acasta Gneiss Candidate Protected Area, Northwest Territories, Canada; Northwest Territories Geoscience Office, NWT Open File 2008-05, 26p.

Discovery

Credit for this find belongs to Dr. Janet King, who is now Assistant Deputy Minister at Northern Affairs Organization in Ottawa was then working with the Geological Survey of Canada. She sent the samples to her research partner Dr. Sam Bowring and a team of geologists from the Department of Earth and Planatary Sciences, Washington University of St. Louis. Missouri, the NWT Geological Division of the Department of Northern Development (DIAND) and the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). This research was also supported by NASA and the U.S. National Science Foundation. The age dating was done by Bowring, I.S. Williams, and W. Compston at the Research school of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra Australia. The mineral rights to this area were staked November, 24, 1989 by Yellowknife prospector Walt Humphries and B.E. Weir P.GEOL.

Gneiss

This is the generic name of a class of rocks geologically defined as: a coarse grained rock in which bands rich in granular mineral alternate with bands in which schistose minerals predominate.

Tonalite

There are many types of gneiss but the Tonaly Pass in Italy was where the first Quartz-Diorite Gneiss of this type was discovered and described, hence the name Tonalite Gneiss.

Mineral Content

The oldest known rock in the world contains the following minerals:

ZIRCONS- ZrSiO4 in this case, less than 1% of the rock is composed of micro zircons and these were formed when the rock originally metamorphosed into a Tonalite Gneiss 4.03 billion year ago. They also grew slightly at latter dates of metamorphism (4.03 billion year ago).

Atoms and molecules have a certain size and shape, and like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, tend to form crystals of a certain shape. As the crystals grow, atoms of uranium are a close enough fit to become locked inside of the crystal, while lead is completely excluded at this stage. However, uranium slowly deteriorates into thorium slowly deteriorates into thorium and thorium slowly deteriorates into lead. By cleaving the zircon crystal and analyzing the ratio of uranium to lead, the age of the rock can be calculated.

Quartz-Si02 is the greyish-white mineral.

Plagioclase Feldspars – they vary in composition between NaA1Si3O6 and CaA1Si2O6. These are milky white to orange minerals, often seen in seams. A small amount of red potash feldspar is present in some samples.

Biotite – (black mica) K(MgFe)3(A1SiO10)OH2 is the shiny black mineral.

Hornblende – Ca2Na(Mg, Fe”)4(A1,Fe”’,Ti)3S8O22(O,)H)2 is the dark (black) mineral.

Allanite, Sphene, Garnet, Magnetite, Pyrite, Chalcopyrite, Sphalerite, and a whole range of trace minerals may be present. This rock was, after all formed by the planet’s primordial geological stew.