Continental crust formation on early Earth controlled by intrusive magmatism
Abstract
The global geodynamic regime of early Earth, which operated before the onset of plate tectonics, remains contentious. As geological and geochemical data suggest hotter Archean mantle temperature and more intense juvenile magmatism than in the present-day Earth, two crust-mantle interaction modes differing in melt eruption efficiency have been proposed: the Io-like heat-pipe tectonics regime dominated by volcanism and the "Plutonic squishy lid" tectonics regime governed by intrusive magmatism, which is thought to apply to the dynamics of Venus. Both tectonics regimes are capable of producing primordial tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) continental crust but lithospheric geotherms and crust production rates as well as proportions of various TTG compositions differ greatly, which implies that the heat-pipe and Plutonic squishy lid hypotheses can be tested using natural data. Here we investigate the creation of primordial TTG-like continental crust using self-consistent numerical models of global thermochemical convection associated with magmatic processes. We show that the volcanism-dominated heat-pipe tectonics model results in cold crustal geotherms and is not able to produce Earth-like primordial continental crust. In contrast, the Plutonic squishy lid tectonics regime dominated by intrusive magmatism results in hotter crustal geotherms and is capable of reproducing the observed proportions of various TTG rocks. Using a systematic parameter study, we show that the typical modern eruption efficiency of less than 40 per cent leads to the production of the expected amounts of the three main primordial crustal compositions previously reported from field data (low-, medium- and high-pressure TTG). Our study thus suggests that the pre-plate-tectonics Archean Earth operated globally in the Plutonic squishy lid regime rather than in an Io-like heat-pipe regime.
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By contrast with the heat-pipe model, intrusive magmatism is expected to dominate over volcanic eruption in thick crust, and tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) partial melts that stalled during ascent above these plumes likely formed nuclei for Earth's first stable continental crust.
“By contrast with the heat-pipe model, intrusive magmatism is expected to dominate over volcanic eruption in such thick crust (Rozel et al., 2017), and tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) partial melts that stalled during ascent above these plumes likely formed nuclei for Earth's first stable continental crust”
From Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth (2020) · cites this paper as Rozel et al., 2017
Heat-pipe tectonics is suggested to have occurred on Earth during the Hadean Eon and implies that volcanism dominates over intrusive magmatism, although this is not the case for subsequent stagnant-lid modes.
“Such a regime is suggested to have occurred on Earth during the Hadean Eon (Fig. 1: Moore and Webb, 2013) and implies that volcanism dominates over intrusive magmatism, although this is not the case for subsequent stagnant-lid modes (Rozel et al., 2017).”
From Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth (2020) · cites this paper as Rozel et al., 2017
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Secular change and the onset of plate tectonics on Earth
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Generation of Earth’s early continents from a relatively cool Archean mantle
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- Authors
- Rozel, A. B., Golabek, G. J., Jain, C., Tackley, P. J., & Gerya, T.
- Affiliations
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- University of Bayreuth (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Rozel, A. B.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2017-05
- Volume
- 545
- Issue
- 7654
- Pages
- 332-335
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2613698502
- Cited by
- 259
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 8
- FWCI
- 22.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- ERef Bayreuth (University of Bayreuth) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological and Geophysical Studies
- Keywords
- continental crust formation, early Earth, magma intrusion, Archean tectonics, thermochemical convection, tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite, crust-mantle interaction, mantle temperature
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