Petrology articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • Correspondence |

    • Fabian B. Wadsworth
    • , Edward W. Llewellin
    •  & Cate Watkinson

  • Article |

    Earth’s oldest known felsic rocks formed by partial melting at low pressures and high temperatures caused by impact melting of mafic Hadean crust, according to phase equilibria and trace element modelling.

    • Tim E. Johnson
    • , Nicholas J. Gardiner
    •  & Hugh Smithies

  • Article |

    Pyroxenite—recycled, subducted material—beneath mid-ocean ridges cools the mantle, suppressing melt extraction and crust formation, according to geochemical analyses of samples taken from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

    • Daniele Brunelli
    • , Anna Cipriani
    •  & Enrico Bonatti

  • Article |

    The lowermost mantle and transition zone are increasingly oxidized at depth, according to analyses of the oxidation state of iron in majoritic garnet inclusions from deep diamonds.

    • Ekaterina S. Kiseeva
    • , Denis M. Vasiukov
    •  & Leonid Dubrovinsky

  • Article |

    A persistent melt layer may have existed in the Archaean upper mantle, according to experimental analyses. The melt layer could have decoupled the mantle from the overlying lithosphere, hindering plate tectonics.

    • Denis Andrault
    • , Giacomo Pesce
    •  & Louis Hennet

  • News & Views |

    Serpentine minerals in Earth's early upper continental crust suppressed atmospheric oxygen levels until the upper crust became granitic.

    • J. Elis Hoffmann

  • Article |

    A decrease in mafic continental crust coincides with the rise of O2 in the Earth’s surface environments about 3 billion years ago, according to an analysis of sediment chemistry. Reduced rates of serpentinization of mafic material, which produces chemicals that react with O2, could explain the link.

    • Matthijs A. Smit
    •  & Klaus Mezger

  • News & Views |

    The long-term cooling of Earth's mantle is recorded in the declining temperature and volume of its volcanic outpourings over time. However, analyses of 89-million-year-old lavas from Costa Rica suggest that extremely hot mantle still lurks below.

    • Oliver Shorttle

  • Article |

    Quartz minerals in Earth’s crust are thought to melt at high temperatures. Laboratory friction experiments, however, show that metastable melting of quartz on a fault surface can occur at lower temperatures, and could lead to large earthquakes.

    • Sung Keun Lee
    • , Raehee Han
    •  & Takehiro Hirose

  • News & Views |

    The composition of Earth's oldest crust is uncertain. Comparison of the most ancient mineral grains with more recent analogues suggests that formation of the earliest crust was heavily influenced by re-melting of igneous basement rocks.

    • Elizabeth Bell

  • Article |

    The formation process for the oldest mineral grains on Earth has remained elusive. A comparison of trace element concentrations of these ancient zircons with known material suggests melting of igneous crust as their source.

    • A. D. Burnham
    •  & A. J. Berry

  • Perspective |

    Dehydration of subducting slabs could create a reservoir of water in the overlying mantle. A synthesis of thermal model results, however, shows that slab dehydration is slow over geological time scales, so such reservoirs are probably rare.

    • G. A. Abers
    • , P. E. van Keken
    •  & B. R. Hacker

  • News & Views |

    The geological record preserves scant evidence for early plate tectonics. Analysis of eclogites — metamorphic rocks formed in subduction zones — in the Trans-Hudson mountain belt suggests modern-style subduction may have operated 1,800 million years ago.

    • Clare Warren

  • Article |

    Carbonated silicate melts are expected to exist in the mantle, but have been elusive in nature. Geochemical analyses of rocks from the South China Sea identify such melts formed in the mantle and erupted at the surface through thin lithosphere.

    • Guo-Liang Zhang
    • , Li-Hui Chen
    •  & Albrecht W. Hofmann

  • Article |

    The MESSENGER spacecraft has revealed geochemical diversity across Mercury’s surface. Magma crystallization experiments suggest a crustal mineralogy consistent with a transition towards shallower and cooler mantle melting conditions.

    • Olivier Namur
    •  & Bernard Charlier

  • Article |

    Rocks are altered by high pressure during subduction. Analysis of exhumed metamorphic rocks suggests that the peak pressures recorded within minerals mark a change in tectonic regime within a subduction zone, rather than burial depth.

    • P. Yamato
    •  & J. P. Brun

  • News & Views |

    Mantle enrichment processes were thought to be limited to parts of oceanic plates influenced by plumes and to continental interiors. Analyses of mantle fragments of the Pacific Plate suggest that such enrichment processes may operate everywhere.

    • Jonathan E. Snow

  • News & Views |

    The composition of Earth's crust depends on the style of plate tectonics and of the melting regimes in the mantle. Analyses of the oldest identified rocks suggest that these styles and the resulting crust have changed over Earth's history.

    • Alan Brandon

  • Letter |

    One volcanic eruption can trigger another. Global analysis of coupled eruptions suggests that the extent of magma mush, stress changes, dyke intrusions and earthquakes can couple volcanic eruptions over increasing distances.

    • Juliet Biggs
    • , Elspeth Robertson
    •  & Katharine Cashman

  • Letter |

    Porphyry ore deposits are increasingly hard to discover. Geochemical analysis of minerals formed in porphyry systems worldwide shows that the most fertile deposits are associated with excess Al and water-rich magma injections.

    • B. J. Williamson
    • , R. J. Herrington
    •  & A. Morris

  • Article |

    The time at which plate tectonics were initiated on Earth is unclear. Geochemical analysis of diamonds suggests that recycled oxidized material could have been introduced to the mantle via subduction zones more than 3 billion years ago.

    • Katie A. Smart
    • , Sebastian Tappe
    •  & Lewis D. Ashwal

  • News & Views |

    The volcanic eruption that created the Ontong Java Plateau released large quantities of carbon dioxide. A reconstruction of CO2 concentrations suggests that the eruption promoted climate change and the expansion of ocean anoxia.

    • Heather M. Stoll

  • News & Views |

    Clear evidence for subduction-induced metamorphism, and thus the operation of plate tectonics on the ancient Earth has been lacking. Theoretical calculations indicate that we may have been looking for something that cannot exist.

    • Jun Korenaga

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