“Researchers have calculated that the planet could have taken far longer to form following the birth of the solar system 4.567 billion years ago than scientists have previously believed. By comparing chemical isotopes from the Earth’s mantle with those from meteorites, geologists at the University of Cambridge claim the planet reached its current size around 4.467 billion years ago.
Scientists have in the past estimated that the Earth’s development, a process known as accretion where gas, dust and other material clumped together to form the planet, happened over just 30 million years. But the new research suggests this process may have taken up to 100 million years – more than three times.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, however, the researchers claim that while the Earth probably grew to 60% of its current size relatively quickly, the process may well have then slowed, taking about 100 million years in all. “The whole issue hinges on working out how long it took for the core of the Earth to form, which is one of the big unknowns in this area of science,” said Dr John Rudge, one of the authors at the University of Cambridge.”
Read more at The Telegraph
Hmmm
Better not let the creationists get wind of this.
they will be quote mining, and deliberately misconstruing data before you know it!
“Much” might be a bit of an overstatement.
i guess gaia had an excellent plastic surgeon!
I find it refreshing and wonderful when we discover holes in currently accepted theories. This is what science is all about! The willingness to re-examine, to reflect, to attempt to disprove… all these are the hallmarks of reason.
Nooooo, I can hear the Creationists sharpening their quote mine pick axes already!
IMHO, 100 million years isn’t really “much” if you are looking on a scale of over 4 billion. Still and extra fact to add to my database that is my mind.
Whats a few hundred million years between friends
For a second I thought I was going to read that scientist confirmed that the Earth is 6 thousand years old…
…of course she is! Anyway, a gentleman would never ask a lady her age…
“Earth is about 2%younger than previously thought but still over 4 billion years old” would have been a less misleading (but also less snappy) headline.
The fact that we see 100 million years as a long time is why we have trouble appreciating evolution. All nicely explained in Richard Dawkins TED talk at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6308228560462155344#