Tungsten Isotope Composition of Archean Crustal Reservoirs and Implications for Terrestrial μ 182

Abstract The evolution of Earth's major geochemical reservoirs over ~4.5 × 109 years remains a matter of intense study. Geochemical tools in the form of short‐lived radionuclide isotope ratios (142Nd/144Nd and 182W/184W) have expanded our understanding of the geochemical variability in both the modern and ancient Earth. Here, we present 142Nd/144Nd and 182W/184W data from a suite of rocks from the Slave craton that formed over a 1.1 × 109 year time span in the Archean. The rocks have consistently high 182W/184W, yet 142Nd/144Nd that is lower than bulk mantle and increased over time. The declining variability in 142Nd/144Nd with time likely reflects the homogenization of compositional heterogeneities in the silicate Earth that were initially created by differentiation events that occurred prior to 4.2 Ga. The elevated 182W/184W recorded in the Slave samples help refine models for the broader W‐isotope evolution of the silicate Earth. Globally, the Archean mantle that formed continental crust was dominated by 182W/184W elevated by some 10–15 ppm compared to the value for the modern upper mantle. The Slave craton lacks significant volumes of komatiite yet has elevated 182W/184W until 2.9 Ga. This observation, combined with the presence of other komatiite suites that have low 182W/184W, suggests that deep‐seated sources contributed low 182W/184W in the Archean Earth. The regional variability in 182W/184W may be explained by invoking chemical and/or isotopic exchange between a well‐mixed silicate Earth and the core or a portion of the lower mantle whose W‐isotope composition has been influenced by interaction with the core

No evidence for Hadean continental crust within Earth's oldest evolved rock unit

Due to the acute scarcity of very ancient rocks, the composition
 of Earth's embryonic crust during the Hadean eon
 (>4.0 billion years ago) is a critical unknown in our search
 to understand how the earliest continents evolved. Whether
 the Hadean Earth was dominated by mafic-composition crust,
 similar to today's oceanic crust1–4, or included significant
 amounts of continental crust5–8 remains an unsolved question that carries major implications for the earliest atmosphere the origin of life, and the geochemical evolution of the crust–mantle system. Here we present new U–Pb and Hf; isotope data on zircons from the only precisely dated Hadean rock unit on Earth—a 4,019.6 - 1.8Myr tonalitic gneiss unit in the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Canada. Combined zircon and whole-rock geochemical data from this ancient unit shows no indication of derivation from, or interaction with, older Hadean continental crust. Instead, the data provide the first direct evidence that the oldest known evolved crust on Earth was generated from an older ultramafic or mafic reservoir that probably surfaced the early Earth

An impact melt origin for Earth’s oldest known evolved rocks

Earth’s oldest evolved (felsic) rocks, the 4.02-billion-year-old Idiwhaa gneisses of the Acasta Gneiss Complex, northwest Canada, have compositions that are distinct from the felsic rocks that typify Earth’s ancient continental nuclei, implying that they formed through a different process. Using phase equilibria and trace element modelling, we show that the Idiwhaa gneisses were produced by partial melting of iron-rich hydrated basaltic rocks (amphibolites) at very low pressures, equating to the uppermost ~3 km of a Hadean crust that was dominantly mafic in composition. The heat required for partial melting at such shallow levels is most easily explained through meteorite impacts. Hydrodynamic impact modelling shows not only that this scenario is physically plausible, but also that the region of shallow partial melting appropriate to formation of the Idiwhaa gneisses would have been widespread. Given the predicted high flux of meteorites in the late Hadean, impact melting may have been the predominant mechanism that generated Hadean felsic rocks