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Earth science

When crust is bred

Nature volume 446, pages 863–864 (2007)Cite this article

An analysis of the distribution of helium-isotope ratios in oceanic extrusions from Earth's mantle seems to establish a connection with the spread of ages in continental crust. What mechanism might underlie this?

After decades of intensive study, fundamental questions remain about the chemical composition and evolution of Earth's interior. On page 900 of this issue, Parman1 reports on an analysis of helium-isotope ratios in basalts found in oceanic islands and derived from Earth's mantle. He finds an intriguing correlation between the distribution of helium ratios — a chemical indicator of mantle history — and the age-distribution of rocks in Earth's continental crust.

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Figure 1: Island sources for crustal growth.

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  1. Don Porcelli is in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK. don.porcelli@earth.ox.ac.uk,

    Don Porcelli

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  1. Don Porcelli
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Porcelli, D. When crust is bred. Nature 446, 863–864 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/446863a

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