Precambrian geology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Two different styles of orogenesis during the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic are recorded in the depositional-to-deformational evolution of the orogenic foreland of the North China Craton, and would have differently changed the surface environment.

The identification of distinct pyrite-marcasite rosettes in the Doushantuo Formation, South China using microscopy and stable isotope analysis, suggests frequent oxygenation events on the early Ediacaran continental shelves during the emergence of complex life.

The use of two zircon oxybarometers to simultaneously determine fO₂ and H₂O contents shows that Archaean granitoids were mostly formed from relatively oxidizing and H₂O-rich magmas, probably at ancient subduction zones.

The Argyle deposit erupted 1.3 billion years ago into an ancient rift at the edge of a craton. Argyle coincided with supercontinent breakup, highlighting the link between diamond emplacement, former rifts and continental breakup.

The unexpected low permeability of Precambrian rock may suggest a more isolated hydrological environment for microbial communities in the deep Earth than previously thought, according to hydrological residence times estimated from noble gas analyses

Recording 4.3 billion years of Earth’s history, Jesse Reimink explores the many ways that zircon allows geologists to keep track of the past.

Articles in PNAS and Nature Communications describe abiotic reactions that could have produced oxygen and methane on early Earth.

An article in Science Advances uses Si and O isotopes of Earth’s oldest rocks to identify the onset of crustal recycling, with potential implications for the onset of subduction-like tectonics.

High pressures may have enabled ferric iron-rich silicate melts to coexist with iron metal near the base of magma oceans early in the history of large rocky planets like Earth. This suggests a relatively oxygen-rich atmosphere during the late stages of core formation on these planets.

An article in Science Advances reports the age of the oldest dated piece of cratonic mantle lithosphere (2.8 Ga), which was found at a mid-ocean ridge.

The Archaean atmosphere may have been well oxygenated, according to a reconsideration of sulfur cycling at that time. This challenges the view that sedimentary sulfur records oxygen-poor conditions during Earth’s first two billion years.