Question

explain why so few remaining
samples of these early rocks remain.​

Answer 1

Explanation:

The grinding of giant chunks of Earth's outer layer — responsible for burping volcanoes, crushing temblors and burgeoning mountains, among other things — may have started half a billion years earlier than previously believed.

Precisely what Earth looked like before plate tectonics, which drive these chunks of crust around, bumping and grinding into one another, is an open question. During the Archean eon 4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, there was water and rock on Earth, but little oxygen in the atmosphere. Simple life arose in this era, possibly around hydrothermal vents, though no one knows exactly when. The earliest chemical traces that could be evidence of life date back to just before 4 billion years ago. More widely accepted as evidence of early life are fossils in Australia of microbial mats, called stromatolites, which date back 3.5 billion years.

Answer 2

Researchers looking for fossils of the earliest life forms face many hurdles. For example, few sedimentary rocks date back more than 3 billion years. Review what you learned about plate tectonics .Explain why so few remaining samples of these early rocks remain.