THEMES

Time

• Measuring the Ages of Rocks

• Era Intros

• Era Recaps

• Miniseries: The Oldest Rocks on Each Continent

Space!

• The Origins of the Earth

• The Sun

• The Moon

• All Space-Themed Episodes

Earth’s Structure

• The Origins of the Earth

• The Interior: Mantle and Core

• Plate Tectonics

Earth’s Surface

• Water and Oceans

• “Dry Land”

• Atmosphere and Climate

Rock Types

• Igneous

• Sedimentary

• Metamorphic

Life and Fossils

• Origins of Life

• Disputed Fossils

• Microbialites (fossil microbial colonies)

Specific Locations (Ga = billion years ago)

• Season 1

• Jack Hills, W. Australia, 4.4 Ga

  • oldest surviving crystals

• Season 2

• Acasta Gneiss, NW Territories, Canada, 4.0 Ga

  • oldest surviving rocks

• Nuvvuagittuq, Quebec, Canada, 3.8? Ga

  • newly-described surface rocks, debated fossils

• Itsaq Complex, Greenland, 3.9 - 3.6 Ga

  • most extensive + well-preserved Eoarchean rocks, including…

  • Akilia Island, Greenland, 3.9 - 3.6 Ga

    • oldest seafloor, disputed fossils

  • Isua Greenstone Belt, Greenland, 3.8 - 3.6 Ga

    • oldest mantle, diverse sediments and volcanics, oldest undebated fossils

• Watersmeet Gneiss, Michigan, USA, 3.6 Ga

  • oldest rocks in the USA

• Season 3