Study could rewrite Earth's history

Date:
July 8, 2020
Source:
Curtin University
Summary:
New research has found evidence to suggest that the Earth's first
continents were not formed by subduction in a modern-like plate
tectonics environment as previously thought, and instead may have
been created by an entirely different process.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Curtin University-led research has found new evidence to suggest that the Earth's first continents were not formed by subduction in a modern-like
plate tectonics environment as previously thought, and instead may have
been created by an entirely different process.


========================================================================== Published in the journal Geology, the research team measured the iron
and zinc isotopes in rock sourced from central Siberia and South Africa
and determined that the composition of these rocks may have formed in
a non-subduction environment.

Lead author Dr Luc-Serge Doucet, from the Earth Dynamics Research Group in Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the first continents
were formed early in Earth's history more than three billion years ago,
but how they were formed is still open to debate.

"Previous research has suggested that the first supercontinents formed
through subduction and plate tectonics, which is when the Earth's plates
move under one another shaping the mountains and oceans," Dr Doucet said.

"Our research found that that the chemical makeup of the rock fragments
was not consistent with what we would usually see when subduction
occurs. If the continents were formed through subduction and plate
tectonics we would expect the ratio of iron and zinc isotopes to
be either very high or very low, but our analyses instead found the
ratio of isotopes was similar to that found in non- subduction rocks."
Dr Doucet said the team used a relatively new technique known as the non- traditional stable isotope method, which has been used to pinpoint the processes that formed continental and mantle rocks.

"Our research provides a new, but unknown theory as to how the Earth's continents formed more than three billion years ago. Further research will
be needed to determine what the unknown explanation is," Dr Doucet said.

The research was co-authored by researchers from Curtin's Earth Dynamics Research Group, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, Institute for Geochemistry and Petrology in Switzerland, and Universite' de Montpellier
in France.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Curtin_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Wendy Debouge, Vinciane Debaille, Nadine Mattielli, Dmitri A. Ionov,
Oscar Laurent, Luc S. Doucet. Archean lithospheric differentiation:
Insights from Fe and Zn isotopes. Geology, 2020; DOI:
10.1130/G47647.1 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200708110010.htm

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