Now, scientists are unraveling a dramatic story secreted away in rare, roughly 800 million-year-old volcanic rocks called carbonatites. Uncovered deep within central Australia, these seemingly unremarkable rocks are telling geologists about a time when continents ripped violently apart. As tectonic plates ripped apart Rodinia about one billion years ago, magma rose up from the Earth’s shifting mantle. Magma or lava-made rocks, known as igneous rocks, are common across the world. “Carbonatites are rare igneous rocks known to host major global deposits of critical metals such as niobium and rare earth elements,” added study co-author and geologist Chris Kirkland.