Ancient Pilbara Rocks Reveal Earth Recycled Water 3.1 Billion Years Ago

Long before the continents assumed their familiar shapes, Earth was already engaged in a deep conversation between its surface and its interior. Chemical signatures preserved in 3.1-billion-year-old volcanic rocks from Western Australia's Pilbara region reveal that water was cycling into the planet's mantle far earlier than science had supposed, carried downward not by the plate tectonics we know today, but by a more primitive process researchers call 'dripduction.' The discovery, led by Dr. Eric Vandenburg at Adelaide University, suggests that even in its infancy, Earth was not a static or di