Chemical heterogeneities in the early Earth and planetary analogues: their formation, preservation and destruction

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A fundamental question in Earth and planetary sciences is how the planets formed and how they evolved through time. Geochemical and numerical models, as well as planetary analogs suggest that Earth accreted from complex processed materials and then evolved rapidly after its formation. Early events such as core segregation, mantle differentiation and crust formation seem to have occurred shortly after the Earth’s accretion. Furthermore, the composition of the Earth’s mantle was modified by the continued accretion of materials during the final stages of formation. In the past few years, the development of short-lived isotopic chronometers has allowed chronological studies of the events that followed shortly the Earth’s accretion. Mixing through mantle convection and crustal recycling associated with plate tectonics has attenuated the magnitude of primordial mantle heterogeneities. However, recent documentation of early-formed isotope variations in Archean rocks requires the persistence of primordial chemical reservoirs for > 1 billion years.