when the earth first forms
four-and-a-half billion years ago it’s
too hot to form with water but the
planet has water now if it wasn’t
delivered by comets then has it been
here all along to find out where the
water comes from professor Stephen
lodges is looking for clues to when it
first appears as a geologist he uncovers
the planets past by looking at its rocks
but the past has a big hole it’s called
the Hadean or dark period because nobody
knows anything about it the problem of
the first 500 million years of Earth
history for geologists has always been
that you have a nightmare scenario where
you don’t have any rocks or minerals to
investigate it’s thought early Earth is
a fireball of molten rock but with no
evidence from this time it’s just a
theory
then in 2002 Moises makes an
earth-shaking discovery the oldest
mineral sample ever found on our planet
a crystal of zircon
[Music]
locked inside these tiny grains is a
vital clue chemical analysis of zircon
crystals reveals whether they formed in
the presence of water over seven years
moisés finds and dates nearly 100
thousand crystals of zircon one stands
alone
the oldest one that we’ve found so far
is four point three eight billion years
old now I I’d like that to sink in when
this crystal was made the earth was just
180 million years old if this line
represents the age of the earth then the
dinosaurs died out here
rewind about four billion years to the
end of the dark period
the zircon crystal was formed here we’re
talking about time spans that are beyond
comprehension for instance in this rock
here there are zircon crystals that are
one third of the age of the universe
these things have been around for almost
as long as the earth has been a planet
talk about time capsules analysis shows
this 4.4 billion year old zircon crystal
forms in liquid water rather than a dry
planet the crystal reveals that early
Earth already has water on its surface
four-and-a-half billion years ago it’s
too hot to form with water but the
planet has water now if it wasn’t
delivered by comets then has it been
here all along to find out where the
water comes from professor Stephen
lodges is looking for clues to when it
first appears as a geologist he uncovers
the planets past by looking at its rocks
but the past has a big hole it’s called
the Hadean or dark period because nobody
knows anything about it the problem of
the first 500 million years of Earth
history for geologists has always been
that you have a nightmare scenario where
you don’t have any rocks or minerals to
investigate it’s thought early Earth is
a fireball of molten rock but with no
evidence from this time it’s just a
theory
then in 2002 Moises makes an
earth-shaking discovery the oldest
mineral sample ever found on our planet
a crystal of zircon
[Music]
locked inside these tiny grains is a
vital clue chemical analysis of zircon
crystals reveals whether they formed in
the presence of water over seven years
moisés finds and dates nearly 100
thousand crystals of zircon one stands
alone
the oldest one that we’ve found so far
is four point three eight billion years
old now I I’d like that to sink in when
this crystal was made the earth was just
180 million years old if this line
represents the age of the earth then the
dinosaurs died out here
rewind about four billion years to the
end of the dark period
the zircon crystal was formed here we’re
talking about time spans that are beyond
comprehension for instance in this rock
here there are zircon crystals that are
one third of the age of the universe
these things have been around for almost
as long as the earth has been a planet
talk about time capsules analysis shows
this 4.4 billion year old zircon crystal
forms in liquid water rather than a dry
planet the crystal reveals that early
Earth already has water on its surface
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