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Science 10 February 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5762, p. 779
DOI: 10.1126/science.1120977
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Technical Comments

Comment on "Zircon Thermometer Reveals Minimum Melting Conditions on Earliest Earth" II

Allen P. Nutman

Watson and Harrison (Reports, 6 May 2005, p. 841) interpreted low temperatures (~700°C) for Hadean zircons as evidence of the existence of wet, minimum-melting conditions within 200 million years of solar system formation. However, high-temperature melts (~900°C) are zircon-undersaturated and crystallize zircon only after substantial temperature drop during fractional crystallization. Zircon thermometry cannot distinguish between low- and high-temperature Hadean igneous sources.

Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

E-mail: Allen.Nutman{at}anu.edu.au

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Temperature spectra of zircon crystallization in plutonic rocks.
T. M. Harrison, E. B. Watson, and A. B. Aikman (2007)
Geology 35, 635-638
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