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Published Online November 17, 2005
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1117926

Reports

Submitted on July 25, 2005
Accepted on November 2, 2005

Heterogeneous Hadean Hafnium: Evidence of Continental Crust at 4.4 to 4.5 Ga

T. M. Harrison 1*, Janne Blichert-Toft 2, W. Müller 3, Framcis Albarede 2, Peter Holden 4, Stephen J. Mojzsis 5

1 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia; Department of Earth and Space Sciences and IGPP, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
2 Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 5570, 69364 Lyon Cedex 7, France.
3 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia; Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, U.K.
4 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia.
5 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
T. M. Harrison , E-mail: Mark.Harrison{at}anu.edu.au

The long-favored paradigm for the development of continental crust is one of progressive growth beginning at ~4 Ga. To test this hypothesis, we measured initial 176Hf/177Hf values of 4.01 to 4.37 Ga detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia. {epsilon}Hf values show large positive and negative deviations from Bulk Earth. Negative values indicate development of a Lu/Hf reservoir consistent with formation of continental crust (Lu/Hf {approx} 0.01), perhaps as early as 4.5 Ga. Positive {epsilon}Hf deviations require early and likely widespread depletion of the upper mantle. These results support the view that continental crust had formed by 4.4–4.5 Ga and was rapidly recycled into the mantle.


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