Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 2 November 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5851, p. 746
DOI: 10.1126/science.1144231
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Technical Comments

Response to Comments on "A Vestige of Earth's Oldest Ophiolite"

Harald Furnes,1* Maarten de Wit,2 Hubert Staudigel,3 Minik Rosing,4 Karlis Muehlenbachs5

The comments by Nutman and Friend, and Hamilton, question our evidence for the presence of the Isua ophiolite. Their critical remarks are particularly directed at the veracity of our inferred sheeted-dike complex, the cogenicity of pillow lavas and dikes, and the nonexistence of modern equivalents. Here, we expand on our explanations in response to each of their comments to better justify our arguments and interpretation.

1 Centre for Geobiology and Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
2 AEON-Africa Earth Observatory Network, and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa.
3 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093–0225, USA.
4 Nordic Centre for Earth Evolution (NordCEE), and Geological Museum, University of Copenhagen, 1350 København K, Denmark.
5 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: harald.furnes{at}geo.uib.no

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)