Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Oldest Rocks on Earth: A Search for the Origins of Our World

The Oldest Rocks on Earth: A Search for the Origins of Our World

Lamb, Simon

Hardcover

Sports GeneralGeology

ISBN10: 023122222X
ISBN13: 9780231222228
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: Jan 6 2026
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.42
Height: 0.94 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

Earth has existed for an immense period of time--an almost unimaginable 4.6 billion years. If we ventured far enough into the past, would we reach a time when our planet was fundamentally different? Did it always have landscapes like those we see today, sculpted by wind, rain, and the forces of plate tectonics? When did Earth turn into the distinctive blue planet where life could emerge and evolve?

Geologist Simon Lamb shows that the key to answering these questions lies in ancient rocks from the days when the planet was young. His research in remote southern Africa looks at some of the oldest known rocks--some more than 3.5 billion years old--which have survived unfathomable spans of geological time. He takes readers on a journey of scientific discovery, walking--and sometimes diving--through landscapes from the time of the earliest documented forms of life. Lamb unearths a violent world of volcanic eruptions, natural disasters, and profound geological forces in the deep ocean, along ancient shorelines, and amid rising mountains. In so doing, he shows how geologists work and think, and how they read rocks and decipher what they tell us about the past. Finding the foundations of our world, The Oldest Rocks on Earth sheds light on why Earth is the only planet known to harbor life and what this might tell us about our future.

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