How many years of the history of Earth do geologists study?
1 Answer
Mar 18, 2016
As far back as 4.5 - 5.0 billion years!
Explanation:
Geologist are always striving to find and study older and older rocks. But the further you go back in time, the evidence gets more and more scarce. Plate tectonics tends to destroy a lot of the rock record, as slabs of the crust get dragged down into the mantel.
The oldest rocks on Earth are now about 4.4 billion years from Australia. Rocks from the moon go back 4.46 billion years. Meteorites go back to nearly 5 billion years, which is thought to be the age of the solar system.
