Ancient Rock Formation (IMAGE)

GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung

Ancient Rock Formation

Caption

Today the Barberton Mountains in northeastern South Africa are covered by rocky grasslands; these hills are made of some of the oldest rocks on Earth (3.2 - 3.5 billion years old). At 3.2 billion years ago a shallow ocean covered most of this area, where rivers draining into this ocean provided favorable environment for life to start colonizing the flood planes.

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Sami Nabhan/FSU Jena

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