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The initiation of mobile-lid plate tectonics on Earth represented a critical transition towards a more familiar world in terms of surface temperature stabilization, biogeochemical cycling, topography creation, and other processes. Zircon-based estimates of the geomagnetic field intensity have recently been cited as providing evi- dence for the lack of mobile-lid motion between 3.9 and 3.4 billion years ago (Ga). We reanalyze the published dataset of 91 zircon paleointensities from the Jack Hills (Australia) and Green Sandstone Bed (GSB; South Africa) localities within this time interval and, using both analytical and bootstrap resampling approaches, show that the small number of samples result in large uncertainties in implied paleolatitude. Specifically, in more likely sce- narios that do not assume coherent motion for both localities, all latitudinal displacements on Earth are permitted within the 95 % confidence interval. We also examine the less likely scenario that the two landmasses shared a motion history, which increases the data density and presents the best-case scenario for constraining latitudinal motion. In this case, the 95 % confidence interval of the zircon paleointensity data is compatible with the displacements of between 35 % and 52 % of modern continental localities, all of which experience mobile-lid tectonics. Finally, generating expected paleointensity time series for modern continents undergoing mobile-lid motion shows that about two-thirds of these motions would not be resolved by zircon paleointensities, even in the best-case scenario of combining Jack Hills and GSB datasets. All of these analyses assume that these zircons retain a primary paleomagnetic signal, an assertion which is opposed by a number of published zircon magnetism studies. We conclude that Archean zircon paleointensities do not provide evidence for or against mobile-lid plate tectonics prior to 3.4 Ga. Future paleomagnetic investigation of tectonic regime on the early Earth should therefore focus on magnetization directions in well-preserved, oriented whole rocks.
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Hadaean to Palaeoarchaean stagnant-lid tectonics revealed by zircon magnetism
Plate tectonics is a fundamental factor in the sustained habitability of Earth, but its time of onset is unknown, with ages ranging from the Hadaean to Proterozoic eons1–3. Plate motion is a key diagnostic to distinguish between plate and stagnant-lid tectonics, but palaeomagnetic tests have been thwarted because the planet’s oldest extant rocks have been metamorphosed and/or deformed4. Herein, we report palaeointensity data from Hadaean-age to Mesoarchaean-age single detrital zircons bearing primary magnetite inclusions from the Barberton Greenstone Belt of South Africa5. These reveal a pattern of palaeointensities from the Eoarchaean (about 3.9 billion years ago (Ga)) to Mesoarchaean (about 3.3 Ga) eras that is nearly identical to that defined by primary magnetizations from the Jack Hills (JH; Western Australia)6,7, further demonstrating the recording fidelity of select detrital zircons. Moreover, palaeofield values are nearly constant between about 3.9 Ga and about 3.4 Ga. This indicates unvarying latitudes, an observation distinct from plate tectonics of the past 600 million years (Myr) but predicted by stagnant-lid convection. If life originated by the Eoarchaean8, and persisted to the occurrence of stromatolites half a billion years later9, it did so when Earth was in a stagnant-lid regime, without plate-tectonics-driven geochemical cycling.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2051550
- PAR ID:
- 10499756
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature
- Volume:
- 618
- Issue:
- 7965
- ISSN:
- 0028-0836
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 531 to 536
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Paleomagnetism core zircons paleointensity geodynamo stagnant lid plate tectonics origin of life
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Iizuka, Tsuyoshi (Ed.)Zircon trace element geochemistry has become an increasingly popular tool to track crustal evolution through time. This has been especially important in early-Earth settings where most of the crust has been lost, but in some fortuitous instances detrital zircons derived from that lost crust have been preserved in younger sediments. To study the formation and geochemical evolution of continental crust from the Hadean to the Paleoarchean, the 3.6 to 3.2 Ga Barberton Greenstone Belt in southern Africa is an excellent target due to its outstanding preservation and presence of detrital zircons that span almost a billion years. Here, we use trace elements, in combination with hafnium and oxygen isotopes, of 3.65 to 3.22 Ga detrital and tuffaceous zircons of the Moodies and Fig Tree groups and compare their geochemistry to previously studied 4.2 to 3.3 Ga detrital zircons from the Green Sandstone Bed of the Onverwacht Group. The major detrital zircon age clusters in the former at 3.55 Ga, 3.46 Ga, and 3.26–3.23 Ga overlap with episodes of TTG emplacement and felsic volcanism in the Barberton area, suggesting a local provenance. In contrast, age clusters at 3.65 Ga and 3.29 Ga of the Moodies and Fig Tree groups as well as 4.2 to 3.3 Ga detrital zircons from the Green Sandstone Bed do not have known intrusive sources and were likely derived from outside the present-day Barberton belt. This indicates that more than half of the felsic igneous events in the detrital zircon record do not have a whole-rock representation that can be directly studied. The similar compositions and inferred crustal evolution histories recorded in zircons from the Fig Tree and Moodies groups, as well as from the Green Sandstone Bed, suggest that they were derived from connected terranes experiencing similar crustal processes diachronously. Together, they show three phases of felsic continent formation, reflecting different crustal processes: (1) long-lived protocrust formed in the Hadean from undepleted mantle sources. These zircons are vastly different from younger zircons and, hence, Barberton TTGs are not good analogues of Hadean crust formation. (2) At 3.8 Ga, onset of significant crustal growth though cyclic juvenile additions and hydrous melting, possibly within a volcanic plateau setting but an arc-like setting cannot be excluded based on this data. (3) Between 3.4 and 3.3 Ga, felsic crust is generated through a previously unrecognized episode of crustal growth by shallow melting of mafic, mantle-derived sources. This is immediately followed by the onset of crustal thickening through the transport of surface-altered, hydrated materials to deep crustal levels. Since there is geological evidence for extension and shortening at that time this may reflect the onset of horizontal movement. Whether this last geodynamic setting reflects modern-style plate tectonics or not, continent formation and the onset of plate tectonics in the Barberton area occurred through complex multi-stage processes spanning almost a billion years, most of which is only accessible through the detrital zircon record.more » « less
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ABSTRACT Earth’s magnetic field history can provide insight into why life was able to originate and evolve on our planet, and how habitability has been maintained. The magnetism of minute magnetic inclusions in zircons indicates that the geomagnetic field is at least 4.2 billion years old, corresponding with genetic estimates for the age of the last universal common ancestor. The early establishment of the field would have provided shielding from solar and cosmic radiation, fostering environments for life to develop. The field was also likely important for preserving Earth’s water, essential for life as we know it. Between 3.9 and ca. 3.4 billion years ago, zircon magnetism suggests latitudinal stasis of different ancestral terrains, and stagnant lid tectonics. These data also indicate that the solid Earth was stable with respect to the spin axis, consistent with the absence of plate tectonic driving forces. Moreover, these data point to the existence of low-latitude continental nuclei with equable climate locales that could have supported early life. Near the end of the Precambrian (0.591 to 0.565 billion years ago), the dynamo nearly collapsed, but growth of the inner core during earliest Cambrian times renewed the magnetic field and shielding, helping to prevent drying of the planet. Before this renewal, the ultra-weak magnetic shielding may have had an unexpected effect on evolution. The extremely weak field could have allowed enhanced hydrogen escape to space, leading to increased oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans. In this way, Earth’s magnetic field may have assisted the radiation of the macroscopic and mobile animals of the Ediacara fauna. Whether the Ediacara fauna are genetically related to modern life is a matter of debate, but if so, magnetospheric control on atmospheric composition may have led to an acceleration in evolution that ultimately resulted in the emergence of intelligent life.more » « less
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- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06024-5
