Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 7, Issue 39, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj1807
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Funding
- European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union [852239]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione Grant [PZ00P2_161218]
- French Government Laboratory of Excellence initiative [ANR-10-LABX-0006]
- Region Auvergne
- European Regional Development Fund
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [PZ00P2_161218] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
- European Research Council (ERC) [852239] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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Continents form the most accessible parts of Earth, but their complex compositions make their origin difficult to investigate. A novel approach based on a comprehensive compilation of samarium-neodymium isotopic compositions of detrital sedimentary rocks is here used to unravel continental growth through time. This record reveals that continents were as felsic as today in the past 3.7 Ga (billion years) and that their growth was not continuous but episodic. Reworking of preexisting crust was a ubiquitous process during most of Earth history, but at least six periods of continental growth can be identified every 500 to 700 Ma (million years) in the past 3.7 Ga. This recurrence could be accounted for by changes in tectonic plate velocities favoring periods of rapid subduction and enhanced production of juvenile felsic crust.
Continents form the most accessible parts of Earth, but their complex compositions make their origin difficult to investigate. A novel approach based on a comprehensive compilation of samarium-neodymium isotopic compositions of detrital sedimentary rocks is here used to unravel continental growth through time. This record reveals that continents were as felsic as today in the past 3.7 Ga (billion years) and that their growth was not continuous but episodic. Reworking of preexisting crust was a ubiquitous process during most of Earth history, but at least six periods of continental growth can be identified every 500 to 700 Ma (million years) in the past 3.7 Ga. This recurrence could be accounted for by changes in tectonic plate velocities favoring periods of rapid subduction and enhanced production of juvenile felsic crust.
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