The Earth's evolution from a chunk of largely molten rock towards the habitable blue planet it is today began already over 4 500 million years ago. The most significant driving force in this transformation has been the geological cycle of material through magmatic and tectonic processes.

The young Earth was different from our present homeworld in several ways. The origin of the Moon, the onset of plate tectonics, the rise of the continents, and the formation of the athmosphere and the hydrosphere all took place within the early Earth.

The ancient volcanoes of Finland

Present stable bedrock of Finland has past full with fire and brimstone. Most of our bedrock is formed from collision of volcanic island arcs. The oldest volcanic rocks in Finland are called as Archean greenstone belts. These over 2 500 million year old chains of rock formations are found almost from every continent and they are important study area in geology. The Archean greenstone belts of Finland are situated in the Eastern and Northern Finland. Doctoral student Elina Lehtonen is doing doctoral thesis about the age and evolution of the oldest volcanoes of Finland at Luomus.