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To: JimSEA
Others suggest a much more recent start within the last 800 million years.

Not likely. There are plenty of metamorphic rocks far older than 800 million years. Metamorphic rock is almost always in part formed as a result of deep burial during the mountain building process (also high temps and pressure). Mountain building, outside of volcanoes, is a direct result of plate collision, via the plate tectonics process. Some metamorphic on earth are radio-metrically dated as far back as 4 billion years.

4 posted on 01/25/2016 10:45:29 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: ETL

...actually, most volcanoes too are the result of plate collision/plate tectonics. But that’s really another subject.

Also metamorphic rocks can have their mineralogical ‘clocks’ ‘reset’ by later periods of plate tectonic activity/mountain building, and so can appear to be younger than they actually are. However, as far as I know, none can be made to appear older than they actually are. And so one with a date of, say, 3.2 billion years, is at least that old. Make sense?


7 posted on 01/25/2016 10:58:15 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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