Jack Hills, Mountain range in Western Australia
Jack Hills is a mountain range extending about 80 kilometers across Western Australia and rising to roughly 700 meters. The hills are composed of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks shaped by erosion over vast stretches of time.
The oldest detrital zircon found here, at Erawandoo Hill, is 4,404 ± 8 million years old, from the Hadean eon. The crystals were eroded from older precursor rocks and deposited in metasediments now about 3,000 million years old. Their oxygen isotope ratios, up to 7.5 per mille SMOW, indicate liquid water at the surface, supporting the Cool Early Earth model.
Scientists from different countries travel to this location to study geological processes and conduct research about Earth's early conditions.
This location sits about 800 kilometers north of Perth in a remote area near the Murchison River. Access requires special permits and appropriate transport suited to the terrain.
The zircon crystals here contain evidence of water from Earth's earliest time, which changed earlier theories about how the planet formed. This finding suggests water existed on Earth much sooner than previously thought.
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