Generation of Earth's Early Continents From a Relatively Cool Archean Mantle

Piccolo, Andrea; Palin, Richard M.; Kaus, Boris; White, R. W.

doi:10.1029/2018gc008079

Cited by 39 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Initially, 50% of the mafic melt produced was assumed to stall during ascent through the crust and form intrusions. While this is lower than the average noted for the present-day Earth (80-90% intrusion; Crisp, 1984), this ratio is highly variable between geological environments; for example, plume-related magmatism is typically characterized by 66% of magmas forming intrusions (Crisp, 1984;White et al, 2006), and this ratio can evolve with time depending on the rheological structure of the crust changing during cooling (Rubin, 1993). In our modeling, extrusion is assumed to occur via dike formation, with the diking efficiency controlled by the rheological structure of the crust (Rubin, 1993).…”

Section: Initial Setupcontrasting

confidence: 55%

Generation of Earth’s Early Continents From a Relatively Cool Archean Mantle

Piccolo¹,

Kaus²,

White³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Several lines of evidence suggest that the Archean (4.0–2.5 Ga) mantle was hotter than today’s potential temperature(TP ) of 1350 ýC. However, the magnitude of such di erence is poorly constrained, with TP estimation spanningfrom 1500 ýC to 1600 ýC during the Meso-Archean (3.2-2.8 Ga). Such di erences have major implications for theinterpreted mechanisms of continental crust generation on the early Earth, as their e cacy is highly sensitive to theTP . Here, we integrate petrological modeling with thermo-mechanical simulations to understand the dynamics ofcrust formation during Archean. Our results predict that partial melting of primitive oceanic crust produces felsicmelts with geochemical signatures matching those observed in Archean cratons from a mantle TP as low as 1450ýC thanks to lithospheric-scale Rayleigh–Taylor-type instabilities. These simulations also infer the occurrence ofintraplate deformation events that allow an e cient transport of crustal material into the mantle, hydrating it.

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Section: Initial Setupcontrasting

confidence: 55%

Generation of Earth’s Early Continents From a Relatively Cool Archean Mantle

Piccolo¹,

Kaus²,

White³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…At first glance, radiogenic depletion offers a significant challenge to increasing mantle temperatures with time and lid state evolution (e.g., the time scales of a lid state transition are such that radiogenic heating should decrease substantially, particularly early in the planet's development). However, it has been shown that mantle potential temperature estimates for Mars have changed little over 4 Gyr, ~70 K ( Filiberto and Dasgutpa, 2015; Weller & Duncan, ), while those for the Earth are estimated at ~100 – 250 K (e.g., Herzberg et al, ; Herzberg, Condie, & Korenaga, 2010; Piccolo et al, ). These findings suggest that the internal temperatures of planets may change by only a few percent despite radiogenic depletion over billions of years.…”

Section: Discussion and Implications For Venusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Physics of Changing Tectonic Regimes: Implications for the Temporal Evolution of Mantle Convection and the Thermal History of Venus

Weller

Kiefer

2020

JGR Planets

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Given similar sizes and compositions, Venus invites comparisons with Earth. While Earth convects in the plate tectonic regime, Venus' current and past tectonic states remain uncertain. Venus' impact crater distribution has led to competing models for its tectonic state, steady (e.g., stagnant lid) or catastrophic (e.g., episodic lid). Terrestrial geochemical evidence and geodynamic models suggest that planets may transition between tectonic states over time. Transitions can be triggered by increasing yield stress due to loss of water or by increasing surface temperature. Here, we revisit the classic endmember models of Venusian tectonics by modeling the transition from stable mobile lid convection into a stable stagnant lid in 3D spherical geometry. Transitions between states are governed by both regional and global scale instabilities, resulting in oscillations in heat flux, velocity, and magma production over Gyr time scales. The thermal and tectonic evolution of a convectively transitioning planet is neither catastrophic nor steady. Volcanism and tectonic yielding may be non-global in nature. At any given time, portions of the planetary surface may reflect apparently different styles of convection, with some regions being highly active and other regions being sluggish and inactive. For Venus, the implications are that global melt production and resurfacing are a natural consequence of lid-state evolution, without needing ad hoc resurfacing mechanisms which rely on a single governing lid-state. Geologic evidence suggests that the transition from mobile lid to stagnant lid is still on-going. Venus may have lost liquid surface water in the last third of its history. Plain Language Summary Given broad similarities, Venus naturally invites comparisons withthe Earth, yet Venus' surface reveals a world strikingly different. Mantle convection on Earth is linked to plate tectonics, but the current tectonic state of Venus is hotly debated. The distribution of impact craters on Venus' vast volcanic plans have been used to generate two endmember tectonic models: a steady single plate with waning melt production over time, or a catastrophic overturn model with strong, short-lived melting events. Here, we explore a change in tectonic regimes for Venus triggered by either loss of water or increasing surface temperature. Transitions in regimes are highly disruptive with significant changes in surface motions, mantle temperatures, melt production, and heat flow. These disruptive events can be restricted to hemispheric or sub-hemispheric regions, indicating that different portions of the planet may record apparently contrasting tectonic regimes. Such a transition between tectonic regimes is neither steady nor catastrophic, and it naturally results in punctuated resurfacing and melting events. This can explain many puzzling aspects of Venus' geologic evolution within the framework of a single evolutionary model.

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“…(a) Hirth & Kohlstedt (2004); (b) (Ranalli, 1995). Mantle phase diagrams are produced for the current work, while the ma c crust phase diagrams are taken from Piccolo et al (2019).…”

Section: Hardware Information and Solver Optionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Fischer & Gerya, 2016;Jain et al, 2019;Sizova et al, 2015Sizova et al, , 2014) and/or employed only 2D numerical experiments (e.g. (Piccolo et al, 2019;Sizova et al, 2015)).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plume —lid interactions during the Archean and implications for the generation of early continental crust

Piccolo¹,

White²,

Kaus³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Many Archean terranes are interpreted to have a tectonic and metamorphic evolution that indicates intra-crustal reorganization driven by lithospheric-scale gravitational instabilities. These processes are associated with the production of a signi cant amount of felsic and ma c crust, and are widely regarded to be a consequence of plume-lithosphere interactions. The juvenile Archean felsic crust is made predominantly of rocks of the tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) suite, which are the result of partial melting of hydrous metabasalts. The geodynamic processes that have assisted the production of juvenile felsic crust, are still not well understood. Here, we perform 2D and 3D numerical simulations coupled with the state-of-the-art of petrological thermodynamical modelling to study the tectonic evolution of a primitive Archean oceanic plateau with particular regard on the condition of extraction of felsic melts. In our numerical simulations, the continuous emplacement of new, dry ma c intrusions and the extraction of the felsic melts, generate an unstable lower crust which drips into the mantle soon after the plume arrival. The subsequent tectonic evolution depends on the asthenosphere . If the is high enough (≥ 1500 • C) the entire oceanic crust is recycled within 2 Myrs. By contrast at low , the thin oceanic plateau slowly propagates generating plate-boundary like features.

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Generation of Earth's Early Continents From a Relatively Cool Archean Mantle

Cited by 39 publications

References 87 publications

Generation of Earth’s Early Continents From a Relatively Cool Archean Mantle

Generation of Earth’s Early Continents From a Relatively Cool Archean Mantle

The Physics of Changing Tectonic Regimes: Implications for the Temporal Evolution of Mantle Convection and the Thermal History of Venus

Plume —lid interactions during the Archean and implications for the generation of early continental crust

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