TY - JOUR
T1 - I-type and S-type granites in the Earth’s earliest continental crust
AU - Zhong, Shihua
AU - Li, Sanzhong
AU - Liu, Yang
AU - Cawood, Peter A.
AU - Seltmann, Reimar
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the editor Joao Duarte for handling. We also thank Dr. Hao Dong for help with Matlab codes. This study is financially supported by the Science and Technology Innovation Project of Laoshan Laboratory (LSKJ202204400), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (202172002), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42203066; 91958214), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2020QD027), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020T130621, 20180838), and the Australian Research Council (FL160100168).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - The composition and origin of Earth’s earliest continental crust remains enigmatic due to the absence of Hadean (>4 Ga) age rocks. Here we address this question by using machine learning to examine the provenance of the 4.4–3.3 Ga Jack Hills zircons, which constitute the best archive of Earth’s earliest continental crust. Our results reveal that although some Jack Hills zircons may be derived from trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite series rocks, which were common during the Archean (4–2.5 Ga), most (as high as ~70%) are sourced from igneous (I-) and sedimentary (S-) type granites. This finding provides clear evidence for rocks other than the trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite suite in the Earth’s earliest continental crust. Considering that I- and S-type granites are typical of modern convergent plate margins, the presence of a high proportion of Jack Hills zircons from these rocks supports the operation of a horizontal, mobile-lid tectonic regime in the early Earth.
AB - The composition and origin of Earth’s earliest continental crust remains enigmatic due to the absence of Hadean (>4 Ga) age rocks. Here we address this question by using machine learning to examine the provenance of the 4.4–3.3 Ga Jack Hills zircons, which constitute the best archive of Earth’s earliest continental crust. Our results reveal that although some Jack Hills zircons may be derived from trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite series rocks, which were common during the Archean (4–2.5 Ga), most (as high as ~70%) are sourced from igneous (I-) and sedimentary (S-) type granites. This finding provides clear evidence for rocks other than the trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite suite in the Earth’s earliest continental crust. Considering that I- and S-type granites are typical of modern convergent plate margins, the presence of a high proportion of Jack Hills zircons from these rocks supports the operation of a horizontal, mobile-lid tectonic regime in the early Earth.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149926564&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s43247-023-00731-7
DO - 10.1038/s43247-023-00731-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85149926564
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 4
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 61
ER -