Oldest Piece of Earth's Crust

Using uranium decay dating methods, a 4.4 billion-year-old zircon crystal found in the Jack Hills region of Western Australia has been confirmed as the oldest known fragment of Earth's crust, evidence of solid crust formation soon after Earth's formation itself and quickly following the impact that produced the Moon.

New Calibration for Carbon Dating

Having two distinct sediment layers that form annually, scientists have used core samples from Lake Suigetsu west of Tokyo to painstakingly account for an atmospheric carbon-14 record stretching back 52,000 years, extending calibration references for a new, more accurate standard for radiocarbon dating.

New Human Geological Age

Geologists at a recent conference have proposed that Earth has moved from the Holocene epoch into the Anthropocene, a new geologic era characterized by the cumulative effects of human civilization upon the climate and geology of the planet.