[jmclnx]

>The oldest place on the earth’s surface—a stretch of Israel’s Negev Desert

I do not understand this statement, I thought an area in Quebec was around 3 - 4 billion years old. I looked, seems Australia may have the oldest area:

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220126-is-the-pilbara-t...

But I say the article could be true, but the only issue I have is the large dinos. I would think they could be an impediment to any organized settlements.

One other thing, didn't most of our fossil fuels come from the Carboniferous era ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous

[delichon]

The claim isn't about the age of rock, but that the surface has churned almost everywhere. Israel does contain the oldest measured continuous surface at about 1.8M yo, but nobody claims to have looked everywhere.

[DFHippie]

How churned is "churned"? Does this mean particular pebbles have have been found to have lain in their current arrangement for 1.8 million years, or just that not much has happened? I expect any arid region far from the poles or mountains and lacking dune fields will have similar patches of inert land. Much of Australia would fit this bill.