A model of crust-mantle differentiation for the early Earth

作     者：Qingwen Zhang Dan Zhu Wei Du Yun Liu Qingwen Zhang;Dan Zhu;Wei Du;Yun Liu

作者机构：State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit GeochemistryInstitute of GeochemistryChinese Academy of SciencesGuiyang550081China International Center for Planetary ScienceCollege of Earth SciencesChengdu University of TechnologyChengdu610059China 

出 版 物：《Acta Geochimica》 (地球化学学报（英文）)

年 卷 期：2022年第41卷第4期

页      面：689-703页

核心收录：

学科分类：070801[理学-固体地球物理学] 07[理学] 0708[理学-地球物理学] 

基　　金：financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(Nos.41804092,42130114) the Pre-research Project on Civil Aerospace Technologies(No.D020202)funded by the Chinese National Space Administration(CNSA) the Strategic Priority Research Program(B)of CAS(XDB41000000)。 

主　　题：Crust-mantle differentiation Heat-pipe tectonics Plutonic squishy lid tectonics Proto-crust TTG Io 

摘      要：The Archean continents,primarily composed of the felsic tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite(TTG)suite,were formed or conserved since~3.8 Ga,with significant growth of the continental crust since~2.7 Ga.The difficulty in direct differentiation of the felsic crustal components from Earth’s mantle peridotite leads to a requirement for the presence of a large amount of hydrated mafic precursor of TTG in Earth’s proto-crust,the origin of which,however,remains elusive.The mafic proto-crust may have formed as early as~4.4 Ga ago as reflected by the Hf and Nd isotopic signals from Earth’s oldest geological records.Such a significant time lag between the formation of the mafic proto-crust and the occurrence of felsic continental crust is not reconciled with a single-stage scenario of Earth’s early differentiation.Here,inspired by the volcanism-dominated heat-pipe tectonics witnessed on Jupiter’s moon Io and the resemblances of the intensive internal heating and active magmatism between the early Earth and the present-day Io,we present a conceptual model of Earth’s early crust-mantle differentiation,which involves an Io-like scenario of efficient extraction of a mafic proto-crust from the early mantle,followed by an intrusion-dominating regime that could account for the subsequent formation of the felsic continents as Earth cools.The model thus allows an early formation of the preTTG proto-crust and the generation of TTG in the continent by providing the favorable conditions for its subsequent melting.This model is consistent with the observed early fractionation of the Earth and the late but rapid formation and/or accumulation of the felsic components in the Archean continents,thus sheds new light on the early Earth’s differentiation and tectonic evolution.