Geologists use zircon mineral grains to reconstruct what the Earth and its landscapes looked like in ancient times. A new study suggests that scientists may be able to better leverage zircon data to ...

The Journal of Geology, Vol. 118, No. 6 (November 2010), pp. 641-653 (13 pages) Abstract The addition of oceanic material through accretion-underplating was an important process in construction of the ...

Zircon analysis has helped scientists understand a violent meteor strike in Arizona, when tectonic plates started shifting around, and even when life on Earth began. In this study, the team dated ...

It might seem unlikely, but tiny grains of minerals can help tell the story of early Earth. And researchers studying those grains say that 4.4 billion years ago, Earth was a barren, mountainless place ...

The trace element content of zircon grains from Holocene beach sands from the Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil was investigated in order to discuss their probable primary source. Zircon ...

Holly Harris ’22 and Liam Houlgate ’21 spent the fall semester of 2020 examining the unique physical and chemical features of the mineral zircon found within rock samples collected from Greece's ...

Researchers have developed a new technique by studying the age of ancient grains of sand from beaches, rivers and rocks from around the world to reveal previously hidden details of the Earth's distant ...

Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy is a highly effective and respected microanalysis tool in geosciences. This tool works by analyzing the light emitted by a mineral or gemstone, which is excited by ...

It’s become clear in recent years that Mars had lots of water in its distant past. But that raises the question—when did Mars stop being so Earth-like? And what happened to cause the change? One way ...

The aim of the project is to examine and understand the mineral chemistry of igneous and alteration minerals from the mineralized centres of a major porphyry copper ore district and their transition, ...