University of Cambridge | 11 July 2010
Fresh insight into the origins of Planet EarthThe Earth could be up to 70 million years younger than scientists previously thought, a study has found.
An international team of researchers used geochemical information taken from the Earth's mantle, and compared it with similar data from meteorites to create a new set of models showing how the planet might have been born.
The results suggest that the length of time between the date at which the solar system was formed, about 4.567 billion years ago, and the point at which the Earth reached its present size, may have been far longer than traditionally presumed.
Scientists have typically suggested that the Earth's development - a process known as "accretion" - happened over the course of 30 million years.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, however, the researchers argue that while the Earth probably grew to 60% of its size relatively quickly, the process may well have then slowed, taking about 100 million years in all.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich | 31 May 2010
Broad bounds on Earth’s accretion and core formation constrained by geochemical models
- Nature Geoscience 3, 439 - 443, (23 May 2010), doi: 10.1038/ngeo872
Earth and Moon Are Younger Than Thought
Space.com | Science | 10 June 2010
Earth and Moon Formed Later Than Previously Thought
Science Daily News | 07 June 2010 | University of Copenhagen
Turbulent mixing of metal and silicate during planet accretion -- and interpretation of the Hf-W chronometer
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol 295, No 1-2, pp 177-186, 15 June 2010, DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.03.038