The Japanese Islands have grown through the formation of igneous rocks and accretionary prism caused by subduction of oceanic plates. However, the timing of the initiation of the subduction is not well defined. The South Kitakami Belt (SKB) in NE Japan is the best field to solve this problem. Here, basement igneous rocks are covered by successions of Ordovician to Early Cretaceous beds (450-100 Ma) . We obtained LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon ages from the following localities. Along the Yakushigawa-Valley section in the northeastern part of the SKB, we examined the ages of (1) trondhjemite of the Kagura Complex of basement igneous rocks, (2) felsic tuff of the Koguro Formation conformably covering the Kagura Complex, and (3) Yakushigawa Formation covering the Koguro Formation and lying under the Silurian Odagoe Formation. In the Ohasama area in the northwestern part of the SKB, we examined the age of (4) Nameirizawa Formation, which probably lies below the Silurian Orikabetoge Formation. Moreover, we examined the ages of four samples from the Hikami Granite body in the central part of the SKB. The ages of trondhjemite (08331-5: 466±6 Ma) of the Kagura Complex and felsic tuff (08331-4b: 457±10 Ma) of the Koguro Formation indicate that the subduction of an oceanic plate had already started at 466 Ma, and that the Koguro Formation is the oldest age-known formation of the SKB. The tuffaceous sandstone of the Yakushigawa Formation (08331-3) has detrital zircons with the youngest age cluster of around 425 Ma, and is probably a Silurian formation. The tuffaceous sandstone of the Nameirizawa Formation (08331-9) has detrital zircons with the youngest age cluster of around 430 Ma. The formation is probably a Silurian formation and is correlated with the Yakushigawa Formation. Precise ages of around 412 Ma were obtained from the Hikamiyama body of the Hikami Granitic Rocks (08330-1,-3,-4) , clearly suggesting that at least some parts of the body are not pre-Silurian basement.
The Japanese Islands have long been considered to be the most evolved of all the island arcs in the oceans. A simple scenario has been implicitly accepted for the growth of the Japanese Islands: since subduction started sometime around 520 Ma, the TTG crust has increased over time in association with the steady-state growth of the accretionary prism in front. Here, we show very different dynamic growths of TTG crusts over time than previously thought, i.e., four times more TTG crusts than at present must have gone into the deep mantle due to tectonic erosion, which occurred six times since subduction was initiated at 520 Ma. Tectonic erosion is a major process that has controlled the development history of the Japanese islands. It can be traced as a serpentinite mélange belt, which indicates the upper boundary of past extensive tectonic erosion.
The Hitoegane Formation, with the Middle Ordovician conodont, in the Hida marginal belt, Southwest Japan, represents the oldest sedimentary unit in Japan. In order to date the lowest part of the formation, U-Pb age of igneous zircon from tuff beds was measured by LA-ICP-MS. A felsic tuff bed from the lower part of the Hitoegane Fm was newly dated 472 Ma (latest Early Ordovician) that marks the oldest age for sedimentary unit hitherto reported from Japan. This result suggests that the basement of proto-Japan was probably older than the Ordovician. The Iwatsubodani Formation, an apparently underlying unit below the Hitoegane Fm, however, yielded U-Pb zircon age of 280 Ma (Early Permian) . Thus this unit is too young to be the sedimentary basement of the Hitoegane Fm. Newly added also were some pieces of information on the U-Pb ages and stratigraphy of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic sedimentary units of the Hida marginal belt.
Phylogenetic analysis is one of the useful tools available for revealing the evolution of life on the Earth; however, it has difficulty in principle distinguishing old and new genomes just by comparing phylogenomic trees. To overcome this difficulty, a new method is introduced which utilizes the Earth's history derived from geologic information to trace genomic evolution. This idea is inspired by Darwin's natural selection, and explains how living organisms change with the environment. In other words, life's genome does not change if the environment remains the same. A key is the birthplace of life on Hadean Earth, which is thought to be an ultra-reducing environment with H 2 produced in abundance through serpentinization. OD1 is a potential microbe that has survived on the Earth since the Hadean. Its habitat, Hakuba-Happo in Japan, is a unique serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal system on land, and it has avoided evolution by remaining in a super-reducing environment from the Hadean to the present. OD1 is regarded as a "living fossil" of the Hadean microbe. Ultra-reducing environments have disappeared over the Earth's history. How has OD1 survived since the Hadean to the present? A possible scenario is proposed based on Plate Tectonics. OD1 habitats have gone through the following transitions:(1) super-reducing environment in a natural nuclear geyser on a primordial continent in the Hadean;(2) serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal system along a mid-oceanic ridge transform fault during the Archean-Proterozoic; (3) subduction-accretion and escape from oxygenated Phanerozoic ocean floor; and, (4) jacked up by growth of accretionary complexes and taking refuge in a hydrothermal system above a volcanic front. OD1 habitats have been reduced with geological age as free oxygen has increased in the surface environment. OD1 may be a "living microfossil" of the Hadean, making its way continuously through ultra-reducing environments on a tightrope.
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