Zircon Thermometer Reveals Minimum Melting Conditions on Earliest Earth
Abstract
Ancient zircons from Western Australia's Jack Hills preserve a record of conditions that prevailed on Earth not long after its formation. Widely considered to have been a uniquely violent period geodynamically, the Hadean Eon [4.5 to 4.0 billion years ago (Ga)] has recently been interpreted by some as far more benign—possibly even characterized by oceans like those of the present day. Knowledge of the crystallization temperatures of the Hadean zircons is key to this debate. A thermometer based on titanium content revealed that these zircons cluster strongly at ∼700°C, which is indistinguishable from temperatures of granitoid zircon growth today and strongly suggests a regulated mechanism producing zircon-bearing rocks during the Hadean. The temperatures substantiate the existence of wet, minimum-melting conditions within 200 million years of solar system formation. They further suggest that Earth had settled into a pattern of crust formation, erosion, and sediment recycling as early as 4.35 Ga.
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We thank E. Baxter, R. Rudnick, L. Storm, F. Spear, and D. Wark for providing rock samples and/or zircon separates for the thermometry calibration, and M. Hamilton for the Skaergaard zircons. We also thank G. Layne (ion microprobe), D. Wark, S. Mojzsis, P. Holden, E. Q. Reid, Z. Bruce, S. Mussett, and J. Thomas for scientific discussions and assistance with analytical aspects. The work was supported at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by NSF grants EAR 0073752 and EAR 0440228 (to E.B.W.), at Australian National University by Australian Research Council grant DP0342709 (to T.M.H.), and at the University of California, Los Angeles, by grants from the NSF Earth Sciences: Instrumentation and Facilities (EAR/IF) program and NASA's Exobiology program and National Astrobiology Institute.
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Published In
Science
Volume 308 | Issue 5723
6 May 2005
6 May 2005
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American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 9 February 2005
Accepted: 14 March 2005
Published in print: 6 May 2005
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