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Influence of Hadean crust evident in basalts and cherts from the Pilbara Craton

Nature Geoscience volume 3, pages 214–217 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Application of the 147Sm–143Nd and 146Sm–142Nd chronometers has suggested that the initial differentiation of Earth’s mantle into enriched and depleted reservoirs may have begun within the first 100–200 million years of Earth’s history1. However, little is known about the differentiation of the early crust; although evidence has suggested the presence of enriched crustal material2,3,4,5, data regarding the nature and composition of this crust are limited. Here we present 147Sm–143Nd data from the weakly metamorphosed basalt and layered chert–barite successions from the Dresser Formation of the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. The Sm–Nd isochron indicates an age of 3.49±0.10 billion years, in agreement with previous estimates from Pb–Pb (ref. 6) and U–Pb (ref. 7) dating, which indicates that the Sm–Nd system has not been reset. Our measured ɛNd value of −3.3±1.0 for the rocks at this site is consistent with formation from an older protolith. On the basis of our modelling of trace element and isotopic compositions from these rocks, we suggest that the older component was crustal in nature, and differentiated from the convective mantle more than 4.3 billion years ago.

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Figure 1: 147Sm–143Nd isochron plot for whole-rock samples of metabasalts, metakomatiites, barite and silicified carbonate from the Dresser Formation at North Pole.
Figure 2: Nb/U versus Nb/Th diagram for North Pole basalts.
Figure 3: Nd evolution curve for North Pole basalts compared with those of the depleted mantle and continental crust.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, the Institut des Sciences de l’Univers (INSU) and the Geological Survey of Western Australia for supporting the Pilbara Drilling Project. P.P. acknowledges financial support from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-Blanc). S.T. acknowledges support of a Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) postdoctoral position. This is IPGP contribution number 2578.

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Author notes

  1. Svetlana G. Tessalina

    Present address: Present address: GEMOC, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, 2109, Australia,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Equipe Géobiosphère Actuelle et Primitive, Institut de Physique du Globe, IMPMC, CNRS & Université Paris Diderot, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France

    Svetlana G. Tessalina & Pascal Philippot

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Institute of Isotope Geochemistry and Mineral Resources, ETH Zürich, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland

    Bernard Bourdon

  3. Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain Street, East Perth, Western Australia 6004, Australia

    Martin Van Kranendonk

  4. School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley Western Australia, 6009, Australia

    Martin Van Kranendonk

  5. Equipe Géochimie et Cosmochimie, Institut de Physique du Globe, CNRS & Université Paris Diderot, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France

    Jean-Louis Birck

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  1. Svetlana G. Tessalina
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Contributions

S.G.T., B.B., M.V.K. and P.P. contributed equally to this work. P.P. and M.V.K. contributed to the field work and characterization of samples. S.G.T. carried out the analytical work with assistance from J-L.B. S.G.T., P.P., B.B. and M.V.K. wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Pascal Philippot.

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Tessalina, S., Bourdon, B., Van Kranendonk, M. et al. Influence of Hadean crust evident in basalts and cherts from the Pilbara Craton. Nature Geosci 3, 214–217 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo772

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