LIPs, orogens and supercontinents: The ongoing saga

Of nine large age peaks in zircon and LIP time series <2300 Ma (2150, 1850, 1450, 1400, 1050, 800, 600, 250 and 100 Ma), only four are geographically widespread (1850, 1400, 800 and 250 Ma). These peaks occur both before and after the onset of the supercontinent cycle, and during both assembly and breakup phases of supercontinents. During supercontinent breakup, LIP activity is followed by ocean-basin opening in some areas, but not in other areas. This suggests that mantle plumes are not necessary for ocean-basin opening, and that LIPs should not be used to predict the timing and location of supercontinent breakups. LIP events may be produced directly by mantle plumes or indirectly from subduction regimes that have inherited mantle-cycle signatures from plume activity. A combination of variable plume event intensity and multiple plume cyclicities best explains differences in LIP age peak amplitudes and irregularities. Peaks in orogen frequency at 1850, 1050, 600 Ma, which approximately coincide with major zircon and LIP age peaks, correspond to onsets of supercontinent assembly, and age peaks at 1450, 250 and 100 Ma correspond to supercontinent stasis or breakup. Although collisional orogens are more frequent during supercontinent assemblies, accretionary orogens have no preference for either breakup or assembly phases of supercontinents. A sparsity of orogens during Rodinia assembly may be related to incomplete breakup of Nuna as well as to the fact that some continental cratons never accreted to Rodinia. There are three groups of passive margins, each group showing a decrease in duration with time: Group 1 with onsets at 2.2–2.0 Ga correspond to the breakup of Neoarchean supercratons; Group 2 with onsets at 1.5–1.2 Ga correspond to the breakup of Nuna; and Group 3 with onsets at 1.5–0.1 Ga not corresponding to any particular supercontinent breakup. New paleogeographic reconstructions of supercontinents indicate that in the last 2 Gyr average angular plate speeds have not changed or have decreased with time, whereas the number of orogens has increased. A possible explanation for decreasing or steady plate speed is an increasing proportion of continental crust on plates as juvenile continental crust continued to be added in post-Archean accretionary orogens. Cycles of mantle events are now well established at 90 and 400 Myr. Significant age peaks in orogen frequency, average plate speed, LIPs and detrital zircons may be part of a 400-Myr mantle cycle, and major age peaks in the cycle occur near the onset of supercontinent assemblies. The 400-Myr cycle may have begun with a “big bang” at the 2700 Ma, although the LIP age spectrum suggests the cycle may go back to at least 3850 Ma. Large age peaks at 1850, 1050, 600 and 250 Ma may be related to slab avalanches from the mantle transition zone that occur in response to supercontinent breakups

Antineutrinos from Earth: A reference model and its uncertainties

We predict geoneutrino fluxes in a reference model based on a detailed description of Earth's crust and mantle and using the best available information on the abundances of uranium, thorium, and potassium inside Earth's layers. We estimate the uncertainties of fluxes corresponding to the uncertainties of the element abundances. In addition to distance integrated fluxes, we also provide the differential fluxes as a function of distance from several sites of experimental interest. Event yields at several locations are estimated and their dependence on the neutrino oscillation parameters is discussed. At Kamioka we predict N(U+Th)=35 +- 6 events for 10^{32} proton yr and 100% efficiency assuming sin^2(2theta)=0.863 and delta m^2 = 7.3 X 10^{-5} eV^2. The maximal prediction is 55 events, obtained in a model with fully radiogenic production of the terrestrial heat flow.Comment: 24 pages, ReVTeX4, plus 7 postscript figures; minor formal changes to match version to be published in PR

A great thermal divergence in the mantle beginning 2.5 Ga: Geochemical constraints from greenstone basalts and komatiites

Greenstone basalts and komatiites provide a means to track both mantle composition and magma generation temperature with time. Four types of mantle are characterized from incompatible element distributions in basalts and komatiites: depleted, hydrated, enriched and mantle from which komatiites are derived. Our most important observation is the recognition for the first time of what we refer to as a Great Thermal Divergence within the mantle beginning near the end of the Archean, which we ascribe to thermal and convective evolution. Prior to 2.5 Ga, depleted and enriched mantle have indistinguishable thermal histories, whereas at 2.5–2.0 Ga a divergence in mantle magma generation temperature begins between these two types of mantle. Major and incompatible element distributions and calculated magma generation temperatures suggest that Archean enriched mantle did not come from mantle plumes, but was part of an undifferentiated or well-mixed mantle similar in composition to calculated primitive mantle. During this time, however, high-temperature mantle plumes from dominantly depleted sources gave rise to komatiites and associated basalts. Recycling of oceanic crust into the deep mantle after the Archean may have contributed to enrichment of Ti, Al, Ca and Na in basalts derived from enriched mantle sources. After 2.5 Ga, increases in Mg# in basalts from depleted mantle and decreases in Fe and Mn reflect some combination of growing depletion and cooling of depleted mantle with time. A delay in cooling of depleted mantle until after the Archean probably reflects a combination of greater radiogenic heat sources in the Archean mantle and the propagation of plate tectonics after 3 Ga

Chemical composition and evolution of the upper continental crust: contrasting results from surface samples and shales

Saverio Fiore. editor. Seminari promossi dall' Istituto di Ricerca sulle Argille: anni 1991-1994. p. 127-157Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale -. P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal