The building blocks of continental crust: Evidence for a major change in the tectonic setting of continental growth at the end of the Archean

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 394-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent C. Condie ◽  
Alfred Kröner
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Continental Growth

scholarly journals Archaean Cratons Record a Duality of Melting Regimes During Early Continental Growth

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Amrei Ladwig ◽  
Priyadarshi Chowdhury ◽  
Alex J. McCoy-West ◽  
Oliver Nebel ◽  
Peter Cawood
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Early Earth ◽  
Crust Formation ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Ree Patterns ◽  
Continental Growth

Abstract The tectonic setting and pressure-temperature conditions responsible for the formation of felsic crust on the early Earth remain debated. Rare earth elements (REE) have been extensively used to study the formation of tonalite-trondhjemites-granodiorites (TTGs)- the building blocks of the early felsic crust, but conclusive interpretations based on the chondrite-normalized REE patterns have not materialised because of the inability to distinguish subtle differences. Here we apply a polynomial approach that quantifies the REE patterns by describing their slope and curvature using shaping coefficients to the TTG compositions from five different Archaean cratons. In combination with partial melting modelling, this enables an assessment of the effects of variations in pressure-temperature, degree of melting and residual mineral assemblages on the formation of TTGs. The REE composition of the Archaean TTGs display two distinct trends: (1) a horizontal-trend suggesting their formation in the presence of garnet-poor amphibolitic residues, possibly formed at the base of a thickened crust; and, (2) an inclined-trend consistent with their formation in equilibration with amphibole-poor, but garnet-rich residues at convergent settings (but not necessarily related to plate tectonics). These different melting regimes coexisted during the Paleoarchaean to Neoarchaean and provide direct evidence for a duality of petro-tectonic regimes of felsic crust formation on the early Earth.

scholarly journals An Overview on the Classification and Tectonic Setting of Neoproterozoic Granites of the Nubian Shield, Eastern Desert, Egypt

Geochemistry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaafar A. El Bahariya
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Alkali Feldspar ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
Granitic Rocks ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Nubian Shield ◽  
Magma Sources ◽  
Tectonic Settings ◽  
Ocean Ridge

Granites constitute the main rock components of the Earth’s continental crust, which suggested to be formed in variable geodynamics environments. The different types of granitic rocks, their compositional characteristics, tectonic settings and magma sources are outlined. Mineralogical classification of granites includes four rock types: tonalites, granodiorites, granite (monzogranite and syenogranites) and alkali-feldspar granites. Alphabetical classification subdivided granites into: I-type, S-type, A-type and M-type granites. Moreover, formation of granitic magmas requires distinctive geodynamic settings such as: volcanic arc granite (Cordilleran); collision-related granites (leucogranites); intra-plate and ocean ridge granites. The Eastern Desert of Egypt (ED) forms the northern part of Nubian Shield. Both older and younger granites are widely exposed in the ED. Old granites (OG) comprise tonalites and granodiorites of syn- to late-orogenic granitoid assemblages. They are calcalkaline, I-type, metaluminous and display island arc tectonic setting. Younger granites (YG) on the other hand, include granites, alkali-feldspar granites and minor granodiorites. They are of I- and A-type granites and of post-orogenic to anorogenic tectonic settings. The majority of the YG are alkaline, A-type granite and of within-plate tectonic setting (WPG). The A-type granites are subdivided into: A2-type postorogenic granites and A1-type anorogenic granites. Granite magma genesis involves: (a) fractional crystallization of mafic mantle-derived magmas; (b) anatexis or assimilation of old, upper crustal rocks (c) re - melting of juvenile mafic mantle – derived rocks underplating the continental crust. Generally, older I-type granitoids were interpreted to result from melting of mafic crust and dated at approximately 760–650 Ma, whereas younger granites suggested to be formed as a result of partial melting of a juvenile Neoproterozoic mantle source. Moreover, they formed from anatectic melts of various crustal sources that emplaced between 600 and 475 Ma.

Elsonian magmatism in Labrador: age, characteristics and tectonic setting

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Emslie
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Country Rock ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Blocking Temperature ◽  
Average Depth ◽  
Geological Record ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Magmatic Processes ◽  
Grenvillian Orogeny ◽  
Silicic Magmas

Paleohelikian Elsonian magmatism (~ −1500 to −1400 Ma) in central Labrador occurred in the interval following the Hudsonian Orogeny (~ −1700 Ma) and preceding the Grenvillian Orogeny (after −1200 Ma). Elsonian plutons, dominated by anorthosite and adamellite compositions, have physical and petrogenetic characteristics of anorogenic intrusions and were intruded into stable, continental crust; evidence to support the existence of a 'pre-Elsonian' orogenic event (thus making the intrusions postorogenic) is slim. An average depth of intrusion about 15–20 km implies that the ambient country rock temperatures were at or near the argon blocking temperature for biotite; strong uplift and cooling, during and (or) immediately following Elsonian plutonism, is the probable cause of 'Elsonian' ages in surrounding country rock terrane.The Elsonian plutonic suite has characteristics consistent with derivation from bimodal magmatic processes. Products of basic magmas (relatively older) and of silicic magmas (relatively younger) are well represented but intermediate compositions are much less common and small in volume.Consideration of the geological record succeeding Elsonian magmatism suggests that it was a precursor of a sequence of events that led ultimately to intracontinental rifting or incipient rifting.

Geochemical constraints on the evolution of the early continental crust

1981 ◽  
Vol 301 (1461) ◽  
pp. 423-442 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Lower Crust ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Mantle Plumes ◽  
Element Abundances ◽  
Ocean Island ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Greenstone Belts

The most important process affecting both major and trace-element concentrations in the mantle and crust is melting producing silicate liquids which then migrate. Another process whose effects are becoming more apparent is the transport of elements by CO 2 - and H 2 O-rich fluids. Due to the relatively small amounts of fluids involved they have but little effect on the major-element abundances but may severely affect minor- and trace-element abundances in their source and the material through which they travel. The Archaean crust was a density filter which reduced the possibility of komatiite or high FeO melts with relative densities greater than about 3.0 from reaching the surface. Those melts retained in the lower crust or at the crust-mantle boundary would have enhanced the possibility of melting in the lower crust. The high FeO melts may have included the Archaean equivalents of alkali basalt whose derivatives may form an important component in the Archaean crust. The occurrence of ultramafic to basic to alkaline magmas in some Archaean greenstone belts is an assemblage most typical of modern ocean-island suites in continental environments. The rock types in the assemblage were modified by conditions of higher heat production during the Archaean and thus greater extents of melting and melting at greater depths. If modern ocean-island suites are associated with mantle plumes, which even now may be an important way to transport heat upward from the deeper mantle, it is suggested that during the Archaean mantle plumes were an important factor in the evolution of the continental crust. It appears that the Archaean continental crust was of comparable thickness to that of the present based on geobarometeric data. If the freeboard concept applied then, this would suggest that plate tectonics was also an active process during the Archaean. If so, it is probably no more realistic to assume that all Archaean greenstone belts had a similar tectonic setting than to assume that all modern occurrences of basic rocks have a common tectonic setting.

Cambrian to early Silurian ophiolite and accretionary processes in the Beishan collage, NW China: implications for the architecture of the Southern Altaids

2011 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. AO ◽  
W. J. XIAO ◽  
C. M. HAN ◽  
X. H. LI ◽  
J. F. QU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Island Arc ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Granitic Rocks ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Ophiolite Complex ◽  
The North ◽  
Ophiolitic Mélange ◽  
Continental Growth

AbstractThe mechanism of continental growth of the Altaids is currently under debate between models invoking continuous subduction-accretion or punctuated accretion by closure of multiple ocean basins. We use the Yueyashan–Xichangjing ophiolite belt of the Beishan collage (southern Altaids) to constrain the earliest oceanic crust in the southern Palaeo-Asian Ocean. Five lithotectonic units were identified from S to N: the Huaniushan block, a sedimentary passive margin, the structurally incoherent Yueyashan–Xichangjing ophiolite complex, a coherent sedimentary package and the Mazongshan island arc with granitic rocks. We present a structural analysis of the accretionary complex, which is composed of the incoherent ophiolitic melange and coherent sedimentary rocks, to work out the tectonic polarity. A new weighted mean206Pb–238U age of 533 ± 1.7 Ma from a plagiogranite in the Yueyashan–Xichangjing ophiolite indicates that the ocean floor formed in early Cambrian time. Furthermore, we present new geochemical data to constrain the tectonic setting of the Yueyashan–Xichangjing ophiolite. The Yueyashan–Xichangjing ophiolite was emplaced as a result of northward subduction of an oceanic plate beneath the Mazongshan island arc to the north in late Ordovician to early Silurian time. Together with data from the literature, our work demonstrates that multiple overlapping periods of accretion existed in the Palaeozoic in the northern and southern Altaids. Therefore, a model of multiple accretion by closure of several ocean basins is most viable.

Tectonic setting and regional correlation of Ordovician metavolcanic rocks of the Casco Bay Group, Maine: evidence from trace element and isotope geochemistry

2004 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID P. WEST ◽  
RAYMOND A. COISH ◽  
PAUL B. TOMASCAK
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Isotope Geochemistry ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Mafic Magma ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
South Central ◽  
Back Arc

Ordovician metamorphic rocks of the Casco Bay Group are exposed in an approximately 170 km long NE-trending belt (Liberty-Orrington belt) in southern and south-central Maine. Geochemical analysis of rocks within the Spring Point Formation (469±3 Ma) of the Casco Bay Group indicate that it is an assemblage of metamorphosed bimodal volcanic rocks. The mafic rocks (originally basalts) have trace element and Nd isotopic characteristics consistent with derivation from a mantle source enriched by a crustal and/or subduction component. The felsic rocks (originally rhyolites and dacites) were likely generated through partial melting of continental crust in response to intrusion of the mafic magma. Relatively low initial εNd values for both the mafic (−1.3 to +0.6) and felsic (−4.1 to −3.8) rocks suggest interactions with Gander zone continental crust and support a correlation between the Casco Bay Group and the Bathurst Supergroup in the Miramichi belt of New Brunswick. This correlation suggests that elements of the Early to Middle Ordovician Tetagouche-Exploits back-arc basin can be traced well into southern Maine. A possible tectonic model for the evolution of the Casco Bay Group involves the initiation of arc volcanism in Early Ordovician time along the Gander continental margin on the eastern side of the Iapetus Ocean basin. Slab rollback and trenchward migration of arc magmatism initiated crustal thinning and rifting of the volcanic arc around 470 Ma and resulted in the eruption of the Spring Point volcanic rocks in a back-arc tectonic setting.

scholarly journals Sedimentology and Geochemistry of Quaternary Sediments and Determination of Sediment Transport, Tectonic setting in the wetland of Saghalak-Sar Rasht

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 550-561
Author(s):  
Masoumeh Mojmeli Renani ◽  
Khalil Rezaei ◽  
Mehran Arian ◽  
Mohsen Aleali ◽  
Pantea Giahchi
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Transport Process ◽  
Chemical Weathering ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Muddy Sand ◽  
The South ◽  
Sediment Samples ◽  
Upper Continental Crust

Wetlands as unique, rich, and fertile ecosystems are among the most vital environments in the world. Quaternary sediments of wetlands are the main components of our environment and an essential source of clastic, organic, and chemical substances that can be caused by natural processes and erosion or created by human intervention. This article broadly deals with the grain size and geochemistry of Quaternary sediments in Saghalak-Sar as one of the wetlands in Guilan province in the north of Iran. The 74 surface and subsurface samples (from 10 core) of the sediments were graded, and sedimentationparameters of the particles (Sorting, Skewness, and Kurtosis) were determined. Also, the frequency of elements oxides and subelements oxides were determined by ICP and XRF, respectively. The sediments were classified into eight sedimentary types including Slightly Gravelly Muddy Sand, Slightly Ggravelly Sandy Mud, Sandy Mud, Gravelly Muddy Sand, Gravelly Mud, Slightly Gravelly Sandy Mud, and Gravelly Sand. On the east of the wetland (core 1 to 8), the percentage of sand is less the mud, and on the south and west of the wetland (core 9 to13), the sand is higher, indicating more energy in the south and west. Sorting of sediments is poorly to moderately sorted and the Skewness in most samples is coarse Skewed. The number of sediment content is 2 to 3, but the sand content is the majority of the samples. According to these data, the sediments are transmitted to sedimentary basins by the river or muddy streams. The comparison of the oxide elements of the above samples with upper continental crust (UCC) indicated the mean value of SiO2 (63.1%) in the wetland sediments is slightly less than the average of this oxide in the upper continental crust (66.6%), the average of CaO (0.8) less than the average of upper continental crust (except the 12 core and surface sediments sw1) and the amount of Na2O (0.8) and K2O (2.1) are less than the upper continental that indicates the destruction of plagioclases as a result of chemical weathering in the source or during the transport process. The comparison of MgO, Fe2O3, TiO2 sediment samples at different depths and upper continental crust shows that the average of MgO (1.2) is lower than the upper continental crust ten but Fe2O3 ( 7.2), TiO2 (1.2) arehigher than the upper continental crust. The decrease of CaO, Na2O, and SiO2 and the increase of Al2O3 and Fe2O3 indicate an increase in weathering during the transport process and the production of clay and aluminum oxide and iron oxide due to the decomposition of complex clays and non-clay minerals. Matching sediment samples on the two-axial diagrams of the main elements oxides, i.e., (Fe2O3+ MgO) versus Al2O3/ SiO2 and TiO2 and log (K2O / Na2O) versus SiO2, as well as the triangular diagrams of the sub-elements Zr, Th, La, and Sc, indicate that the wetland sediments are more inclined towards the range of oceanic arc islands and continental arcs, and are composed of subduction rocks.

scholarly journals Rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust: implications for continental growth

2018 ◽  
Vol 376 (2132) ◽  
pp. 20170403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Dhuime ◽  
Chris J. Hawkesworth ◽  
Hélène Delavault ◽  
Peter A. Cawood
Keyword(s):  
Continental Crust ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Marked Decrease ◽  
Crust Formation ◽  
Temporary Reduction ◽  
Present Volume ◽  
Continental Growth ◽  
Earth Dynamics ◽  
Model Approach

Less than 25% of the volume of the juvenile continental crust preserved today is older than 3 Ga, there are no known rocks older than approximately 4 Ga, and yet a number of recent models of continental growth suggest that at least 60–80% of the present volume of the continental crust had been generated by 3 Ga. Such models require that large volumes of pre-3 Ga crust were destroyed and replaced by younger crust since the late Archaean. To address this issue, we evaluate the influence on the rock record of changing the rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust at different times in Earth's history. We adopted a box model approach in a numerical model constrained by the estimated volumes of continental crust at 3 Ga and the present day, and by the distribution of crust formation ages in the present-day crust. The data generated by the model suggest that new continental crust was generated continuously, but with a marked decrease in the net growth rate at approximately 3 Ga resulting in a temporary reduction in the volume of continental crust at that time. Destruction rates increased dramatically around 3 billion years ago, which may be linked to the widespread development of subduction zones. The volume of continental crust may have exceeded its present value by the mid/late Proterozoic. In this model, about 2.6–2.3 times of the present volume of continental crust has been generated since Earth's formation, and approximately 1.6–1.3 times of this volume has been destroyed and recycled back into the mantle. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Earth dynamics and the development of plate tectonics'.

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