Evidence for and implications of an Early Archean terrestrial impact record

Early Archean, 3.5 to 3.2 Ga, greenstone sequences in South Africa and Western Australia contain a well-preserved record of early terrestrial meteorite impacts. The main impact-produced deposits are layers, 10 cm to over 1 m thick, composed largely of sand-sized spherules, 0.1 to 4 mm in diameter. The beds studied to date show an assemblage of features indicating formation by the fall of debris from impact-generated ejecta clouds. Some presented data effectively rule out normal magmatic or sedimentary processes in the origin of these units and provide substantial support for an origin by large impacts on the early earth. The presence of at least four, remarkably thick, nearly pure spherule layers suggests that smaller-scale impact deposits may be even more abundant in these sequences. The existence of a well-preserved Archean terrestrial impact record suggests that a direct source of evidence is available regarding a number of important aspects of early earth history

Insights into early Earth from the Pt-Re-Os isotope and highly siderophile element abundance systematics of Barberton komatiites

Highly siderophile element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, Pd, and Re) abundance and Pt-Re-Os isotopic data are reported for well-preserved komatiites from the Komati and Weltevreden Formations of the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The Re-Os data for whole-rock samples and olivine and chromite separates define isochrons with ages of 3484 +/- 38 and 3263 +/- 12 Ma for the Komati and Weltevreden systems, respectively. The respective initial Os-187/Os-188 = 0.10335 +/- 15 (gamma Os-187 = +0.34 +/- 0.15) and 0.10442 +/- 4 (gamma Os-187 = -0.14 +/- 0.04) are well within the range defined by chondritic meteorites. When considered together with the Re-Os data for late Archean komatiite systems, these data indicate that the mantle sources of most Archean komatiites evolved with essentially uniform long-term Re/Os that is well within the chondritic range. By contrast, the initial Os-186/Os-188 = 0.1198283 +/- 9 (epsilon Os-186 = -0.12 +/- 0.08) and 0.1198330 +/- 8 (epsilon Os-186 = +0.22 +/- 0.07) for the Komati and Weltevreden systems, respectively, are outside of known chondritic evolution paths, indicating that the mantle sources of these two komatiite systems evolved with fractionated time-integrated Pt/Os. The new 186,187 Os isotopic data for these early Archean komatiite systems, combined with published Nd-142,Nd-143 and Hf-176 isotopic data for these systems, are consistent with formation and long-term isolation of deep-seated mantle domains with fractionated time-integrated Sm/Nd, Lu/Hf, and Pt/Os ratios, at ca. 4400 Ma. These domains may have been generated as a result of late-stage crystallization of a primordial magma ocean involving Mg-perovskite, Ca-perovskite and Pt-alloys acting as the fractionating phases. The inferred fractionated mantle domains were sampled by the early Archean komatiites, but were largely mixed away by 2.7 Ga, as evidenced by uniform time-integrated Sm/Nd, Lu/Hf, and Pt/Os ratios inferred for the sources of most late Archean komatiite systems. The calculated total Pt + Pd abundances present in the sources of the early Archean komatiite systems fall only 7-14% short of those present in estimates for the modern primitive mantle. These are also within the range of the total Pt + Pd abundances present in the sources of late Archean komatiite systems, indicating little change in the HSE abundances in the Archean mantle between 3.5 and 2.7 Ga. The new HSE data for the early Archean komatiite systems may implicate late accretion of HSE to the mantle prior to completion of crystallization of a final terrestrial magma ocean, followed by sluggish mixing of diverse, post-magma ocean domains characterized by variably fractionated lithophile element and HSE abundances. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Deep hydrous mantle reservoir provides evidence for crustal recycling before 3.3 billion years ago

Water strongly influences the physical properties of the mantle and enhances its ability to melt or convect. Its presence can also be used to trace recycling of surface reservoirs down to the deep mantle1, which makes knowledge of the water content in the Earth's interior and its evolution crucial for understanding global geodynamics. Komatiites (MgO-rich ultramafic magmas) result from a high degree of mantle melting at high pressures2 and thus are excellent probes of the chemical composition and water contents of the deep mantle. An excess of water over elements that show similar geochemical behaviour during mantle melting (for example, cerium) was recently found in melt inclusions in the most magnesium-rich olivine in 2.7-billion-year-old komatiites from Canada3 and Zimbabwe4. These data were taken as evidence for a deep hydrated mantle reservoir, probably the transition zone, in the Neoarchaean era (2.8 to 2.5 billion years ago). Here we confirm the mantle source of this water by measuring deuterium-to-hydrogen ratios in these melt inclusions and present similar data for 3.3-billion-year-old komatiites from the Barberton greenstone belt. From the hydrogen isotope ratios, we show that the mantle sources of these melts contained excess water, which implies that a deep hydrous mantle reservoir has been present in the Earth's interior since at least the Palaeoarchaean era (3.6 to 3.2 billion years ago). The reconstructed initial hydrogen isotope composition of komatiites is more depleted in deuterium than surface reservoirs or typical mantle but resembles that of oceanic crust that was initially altered by seawater and then dehydrated during subduction. Together with an excess of chlorine and depletion of lead in the mantle sources of komatiites, these results indicate that seawater-altered lithosphere recycling into the deep mantle, arguably by subduction, started before 3.3 billion years ago

Hormonal Signal Amplification Mediates Environmental Conditions during Development and Controls an Irreversible Commitment to Adulthood

Many animals can choose between different developmental fates to maximize fitness. Despite the complexity of environmental cues and life history, different developmental fates are executed in a robust fashion. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans serves as a powerful model to examine this phenomenon because it can adopt one of two developmental fates (adulthood or diapause) depending on environmental conditions. The steroid hormone dafachronic acid (DA) directs development to adulthood by regulating the transcriptional activity of the nuclear hormone receptor DAF-12. The known role of DA suggests that it may be the molecular mediator of environmental condition effects on the developmental fate decision, although the mechanism is yet unknown. We used a combination of physiological and molecular biology techniques to demonstrate that commitment to reproductive adult development occurs when DA levels, produced in the neuroendocrine XXX cells, exceed a threshold. Furthermore, imaging and cell ablation experiments demonstrate that the XXX cells act as a source of DA, which, upon commitment to adult development, is amplified and propagated in the epidermis in a DAF-12 dependent manner. This positive feedback loop increases DA levels and drives adult programs in the gonad and epidermis, thus conferring the irreversibility of the decision. We show that the positive feedback loop canalizes development by ensuring that sufficient amounts of DA are dispersed throughout the body and serves as a robust fate-locking mechanism to enforce an organism-wide binary decision, despite noisy and complex environmental cues. These mechanisms are not only relevant to C. elegans but may be extended to other hormonal-based decision-making mechanisms in insects and mammals

Mapping adipose and muscle tissue expression quantitative trait loci in African Americans to identify genes for type 2 diabetes and obesity

Relative to European Americans, type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans (AAs). Genetic variation may modulate transcript abundance in insulin-responsive tissues and contribute to risk; yet published studies identifying expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in African ancestry populations are restricted to blood cells. This study aims to develop a map of genetically regulated transcripts expressed in tissues important for glucose homeostasis in AAs, critical for identifying the genetic etiology of T2D and related traits. Quantitative measures of adipose and muscle gene expression, and genotypic data were integrated in 260 non-diabetic AAs to identify expression regulatory variants. Their roles in genetic susceptibility to T2D, and related metabolic phenotypes were evaluated by mining GWAS datasets. eQTL analysis identified 1,971 and 2,078 cis-eGenes in adipose and muscle, respectively. Cis-eQTLs for 885 transcripts including top cis-eGenes CHURC1, USMG5, and ERAP2, were identified in both tissues. 62.1% of top cis-eSNPs were within ±50kb of transcription start sites and cis-eGenes were enriched for mitochondrial transcripts. Mining GWAS databases revealed association of cis-eSNPs for more than 50 genes with T2D (e.g. PIK3C2A, RBMS1, UFSP1), gluco-metabolic phenotypes, (e.g. INPP5E, SNX17, ERAP2, FN3KRP), and obesity (e.g. POMC, CPEB4). Integration of GWAS meta-analysis data from AA cohorts revealed the most significant association for cis-eSNPs of ATP5SL and MCCC1 genes, with T2D and BMI, respectively. This study developed the first comprehensive map of adipose and muscle tissue eQTLs in AAs (publically accessible at https://mdsetaa.phs.wakehealth.edu) and identified genetically-regulated transcripts for delineating genetic causes of T2D, and related metabolic phenotypes

Early Earth mantle heterogeneity revealed by light oxygen isotopes of Archaean komatiites

© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. Geodynamic processes on early Earth, especially the interaction between the crust and deep mantle, are poorly constrained and subject to much debate. The rarity of fresh igneous materials more than 3 billion years old accounts for much of this uncertainty. Here we examine 3.27-billion-year-old komatiite lavas from Weltevreden Formation in the Barberton greenstone belt, which is part of the Kaapvaal Craton in Southern Africa. We show that primary magmatic compositions of olivine are well preserved in these lavas based on major and trace element systematics. These komatiitic lavas represent products of deep mantle plumes. Oxygen isotope compositions (d18O) of the fresh olivine measured by laser fluorination are consistently lighter (about 2h) than those obtained from modern mantle-derived volcanic rocks. These results suggest a mantle source for the Weltevreden komatiites that is unlike the modern mantle and one that reflects mantle heterogeneity left over from a Hadean magma ocean. The anomalously light d18O may have resulted from fractionation of deep magma ocean phases, as has been proposed to explain lithophile and siderophile isotope compositions of Archaean komatiites

Geochemistry of abyssal oceanic magmas

Massive, nearly holocrystalline dolerites from DSDP Hole 417D contain from 0.5 to 1.5% of granophyric patches composed mainly of Na-plagioclase and quartz. These patches are compositionally similar to other crystalline silicic rocks from oceanic spreading centers and differ from rarer abyssal silicic glasses. Crystalline varieties with SiO2 > 60 wt.% generally have Na/K >10, whereas silicic glasses have Na/K in the range 3-6. While crystal fractionation readily accounts for the Na2O and K2O contents of abyssal silicic glasses, both the 417D granophyres and other crystalline abyssal silicic rocks have much lower K2O than that predicted by any reasonable crystal-liquid fractionation model. We propose that high-temperature vapor phase transport is responsible for removal of potassium during late-stage crystallization of these rocks. This allows for the formation of cogenetic silicic glassy and crystalline rocks with greatly different Na/K ratios. These observations and interpretations lead to a more confident assignment of high Na/K silicic rocks of oceanic and ophiolitic environments to a cogenetic origin with basaltic oceanic crust