Journal
GONDWANA RESEARCH
Volume 23, Issue 4, Pages 1484-1490Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2013.01.001
Keywords
Hadean; Zircon Hf model ages; Early Earth; Ancient crustal recycling
Categories
Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2012CB416606]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [41272004]
- MOST Special Funds from the State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics
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Evidence for the earliest known terrestrial crust comes predominantly from Jack Hills in Western Australia, where hafnium isotopic results from >3.8 Ga detrital zircons indicate crustal precursors as old as similar to 4.4-4.5 Ga. We present evidence from magmatic cores in >3.9 Ga xenoaystic zircons from a felsic volcanic rock in the North Qinling Orogenic Belt, China, of similar Hf crustal model ages up to 4.45 Ga. These lie on the same Lu/Hf trajectory as the least disturbed jack Hills and Apollo 14 zircons, therefore providing only the second example of the earliest known generation of continental crust on Earth. In addition, the rims of two zircon grains record later growth at 3.7 Ga and, when combined with the fact that the grains are incorporated in Paleozoic volcanic rocks, imply long-lived crustal residence within the basement of the North China Craton. These results therefore establish the wider distribution and survival of the most ancient crustal material on the Earth and highlight the possibility for the further discovery of ancient crustal remnants. (C) 2013 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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