Ancient Earth Moves: Earliest Plate Tectonics Traced to 3.5 Billion Years Ago
Scientists report in Science that Earth’s plate tectonics began much earlier than once thought, with the earliest direct evidence found in the East Pilbara Craton of Western Australia dating to about 3.5 billion years ago in the Archean. By analyzing 900 rock samples for paleomagnetic data, researchers observed a latitude drift from ~53° to ~77° and a clockwise rotation over millions of years, suggesting the lithosphere was segmented rather than a single unbroken shell. Comparative data from the Barberton Greenstone Belt supports this view, implying Earth moved toward plate tectonics much earlier and that early tectonic activity helped shape conditions for life on our planet.
