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When did plate tectonics begin?

Live Science
Summary
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77% Informative

Geologists don't have a good answer for when plate tectonic plates emerged.

Estimates range from 700 million years ago to before 4 billion years ago , when Earth was still in its infancy.

The oldest unambiguous evidence of modern tectonics dates to the Neoproterozoic .

But many geologists think this is too conservative.

Some studies of Earth 's oldest zircons show plate tectonics existed in Hadean conditions.

The oldest rocks might also be weird — perhaps they're still hanging around today because they weren't like all the other rocks on ancient Earth .

"It's shocking to realize there's no consensus view on when plates started," Jesse Reimink , a geoscientist.

VR Score

90

Informative language

95

Neutral language

55

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

54

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not offensive

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not hateful

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Time-value

long-living