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 15 September 1995:
Vol. 269. no. 5230, pp. 1535 - 1540
DOI: 10.1126/science.7667634
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Science, Vol 269, Issue 5230, 1535-1540
Copyright © 1995 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The Earth's early evolution

SA Bowring and T Housh

Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.

The Archean crust contains direct geochemical information of the Earth's early planetary differentiation. A major outstanding question in the Earth sciences is whether the volume of continental crust today represents nearly all that formed over Earth's history or whether its rates of creation and destruction have been approximately balanced since the Archean. Analysis of neodymium isotopic data from the oldest remnants of Archean crust suggests that crustal recycling is important and that preserved continental crust comprises fragments of crust that escaped recycling. Furthermore, the data suggest that the isotopic evolution of Earth's mantle reflects progressive eradication of primordial heterogeneities related to early differentiation.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Structural transitions and electron transfer in coffinite, USiO4, at high pressure.
F.X. Zhang, V. Pointeau, L.C. Shuller, D.M. Reaman, M. Lang, Z. Liu, J. Hu, W.R. Panero, U. Becker, C. Poinssot, et al. (2009)
American Mineralogist 94, 916-920
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Arc-continent collisions, sediment recycling and the maintenance of the continental crust.
P. D. Clift, H. Schouten, and P. Vannucchi (2009)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 318, 75-103
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Zircon dissolution in a ductile shear zone, Monte Rosa granite gneiss, northern Italy.
T. J. Dempster, J. C. Martin, and Z. K. Shipton (2008)
Mineralogical Magazine 72, 971-986
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Hierarchical Earth accretion and the Hadean Eon.
J. D. Kramers (2007)
Journal of the Geological Society 164, 3-17
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
4.2 Ga zircon xenocryst in an Acasta gneiss from northwestern Canada: Evidence for early continental crust.
T. Iizuka, K. Horie, T. Komiya, S. Maruyama, T. Hirata, H. Hidaka, and B. F. Windley (2006)
Geology 34, 245-248
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The record of impact processes on the early Earth: A review of the first 2.5 billion years.
C. Koeberl (2006)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 405, 1-22
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Relicts of Earth's earliest crust: U-Pb, Lu-Hf, and morphological characteristics of >3.7 Ga detrital zircon of the western Canadian Shield.
R.P. Hartlaub, L.M. Heaman, A. Simonetti, and C.O. Bohm (2006)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 405, 75-89
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Inhibited eclogite formation: The key to the rapid growth of strong and buoyant Archean continental crust.
M.G. Bjornerud and H. Austrheim (2004)
Geology 32, 765-768
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Constraints on continental growth models from Nb/U ratios in the 3.5 Ga Barberton and other Archaean basalt-komatiite suites.
I. H. Campbell (2003)
Am J Sci 303, 319-351
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Structure and Chemistry of Zircon and Zircon-Group Minerals.
R. J. Finch, R. J. Finch, and J. M. Hanchar (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 53, 1-25
   Full Text »    PDF »
Zircon Saturation Thermometry.
J. M. Hanchar, J. M. Hanchar, and E. B. Watson (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 53, 89-112
   Full Text »    PDF »
Hf isotope evidence for a hidden mantle reservoir.
M. Bizzarro, A. Simonetti, R. K. Stevenson, and J. David (2002)
Geology 30, 771-774
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seismic Stratigraphic Constraints on Neoarchean - Paleoproterozoic Evolution of the Western Margin of the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa.
J. Tinker, J. Tinker, M. de Wit, and J. Grotzinger (2002)
South African Journal of Geology 105, 107-134
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Geology: from an Earth to a planetary science in the twentieth century.
U. B. Marvin (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 192, 17-57
   Abstract »    PDF »
Carbon dioxide cycling through the mantle and implications for the climate of ancient Earth.
K. Zahnle and N. H. Sleep (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 199, 231-257
   Abstract »    PDF »
Global modelling of continent formation and destruction through geological time and implications for CO2 drawdown in the Archaean Eon.
J. D. Kramers (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 199, 259-274
   Abstract »    PDF »
Rare earth elements in synthetic zircon: Part 1. Synthesis, and rare earth element and phosphorus doping.
J. M. Hanchar, R. J. Finch, P. W.O. Hoskin, E. B. Watson, D. J. Cherniak, and A. N. Mariano (2001)
American Mineralogist 86, 667-680
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Rare-earth elements in synthetic zircon: Part 2. A single-crystal X-ray study of xenotime substitution.
R. J. Finch, J. M. Hanchar, P. W. O. Hoskin, and P. C. Burns (2001)
American Mineralogist 86, 681-689
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The oldest rocks on Earth: time constraints and geological controversies.
B. S. Kamber, S. Moorbath, and M. J. Whitehouse (2001)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 190, 177-203
   Abstract »    PDF »
Sedimentary and geochemical evolution of the Dras forearc basin, Indus suture, Ladakh Himalaya, India.
P. D. Clift, P. J. Degnan, R. Hannigan, and J. Blusztajn (2000)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, 450-466
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Polybaric Petrogenesis of Mafic Layers in the Horoman Peridotite Complex, Japan.
E. Takazawa, F. A. Frey, N. Shimizu, A. Saal, and M. Obata (1999)
J. Petrology 40, 1827-1851
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Petrology of Peridotite and Pyroxenite Xenoliths from the Jericho Kimberlite: Implications for the Thermal State of the Mantle beneath the Slave Craton, Northern Canada.
M. G. Kopylova, J. K. Russell, and H. Cookenboo (1999)
J. Petrology 40, 79-104
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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