The scarcity of rocks preserved from the first billion years (Gy) of Earth’s history hinders our ability to study the nature of the earliest crust. Rare >4.0-Gy-old zircons confirm that felsic crust was present within 500 million years of Earth’s formation. Given that most of that ancient crust has been destroyed, geochemical and isotopic tracers applied to rocks from the oldest sections of continents can be used to provide insights into the nature of the predecessor crust. Evidence from Earth’s oldest rocks and minerals suggests multiple early mantle depletion episodes, possibly linked to the formation of an initial, dominantly mafic, crust. This early crust was the precursor to evolved rocks that now constitute considerable portions of Earth’s oldest surviving crust.
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June 01, 2024
Earth’s Earliest Crust Available to Purchase
Jonathan O’Neil;
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
E-mail: [email protected]
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Hanika Rizo;
Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
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Jesse Reimink;
Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
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Marion Garçon;
Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Aubière, France
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Richard W. Carlson
Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC, USA
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Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
Publisher: Mineralogical Society of America
First Online:
03 Jun 2024
Online ISSN: 1811-5217
Print ISSN: 1811-5209
Copyright © 2024 by the Mineralogical Society of America
Mineralogical Society of America
Elements (2024) 20 (3): 168–173.
Article history
First Online:
03 Jun 2024
Citation
Jonathan O’Neil, Hanika Rizo, Jesse Reimink, Marion Garçon, Richard W. Carlson; Earth’s Earliest Crust. Elements 2024;; 20 (3): 168–173. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.20.3.168
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- Africa
- age
- Archean
- Asia
- Australasia
- Australia
- Canadian Shield
- China
- continental crust
- cratons
- crust
- crystallization
- depletion
- differentiation
- early solar system
- Far East
- felsic composition
- global
- greenstone
- Hadean
- India
- Indian Peninsula
- Jack Hills
- Kaapvaal Craton
- magmas
- magmatic differentiation
- mantle
- metamorphic rocks
- nesosilicates
- North America
- North China Platform
- orthosilicates
- Pilbara
- Pilbara Craton
- plate tectonics
- Precambrian
- reworking
- schists
- silicates
- Slave Province
- Sm/Nd
- Southern Africa
- stratigraphic boundary
- U/Pb
- Western Australia
- Yilgarn Craton
- zircon
- zircon group
- Slave Craton
- North Atlantic Craton
- Yangtze Craton
- detrital zircon
- crystallization ages
- East Antarctic Craton
- Superior Craton
- Singhbhum Craton
- Tarim Craton
- crustal reworking
Latitude & Longitude
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