Geochemical characterization and geochronology of Earth's primitive crust

地球原始地壳的地球化学特征和年代学

• 批准号: 435589-2013
• 负责人: ONeil, Jonathan
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: University of Ottawa
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=661211
• 关键词: Geochemical; characterization; geochronology; Earth; primitive

Our knowledge of the Earth's early evolution is very limited due to the scarcity of preserved rock samples from this era of Earth history. Most information on the primitive Earth comes from the study of detrital zircons dated at ~4.4 billion years old found in much younger sediments in Western Australia. The oldest surviving rock samples available at the surface of the Earth are between 4.0 and 3.7 billion years old, leaving the first 500 million years of our planet's history unrepresented in the rock record. Therefore the nature of the Earth's early crust and the processes responsible for its formation remain largely speculation. Recent work using 142-Neodymium, an isotopic tool particularly sensitive to rock formation prior to 4 billion years old, suggests that rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq terrane in Northern Quebec are as old as 4.4 billion years. These rocks would therefore represent the oldest rock on Earth. This terrane is however only a very small portion of crust and the study of other old crustal terranes is critical in order to understand how and when the first continents formed. This proposal seeks funding to support research focused on ancient terrains. Their study will help to constrain the evolution of the early Earth and the geological processes responsible for the formation of the primitive crust. This research will focus on three ancient Canadian terranes: 1) The Saglek Gneiss Complex (Labrador) which is a terrane comprising rocks as old as 3.8 billion years. This area is still relatively uncharacterized and its precise evolution through time is largely unknown. 2) The Central Slave Basement Complex (Northwest Territories) comprises rocks dated at ~4 billion years called the Acasta gneisses. The Acasta gneiss formed from granitic rocks derived by the melting of older basaltic rocks. Further investigation of basaltic rocks in this area could allow the identification of an older precursor to the Acasta gneisses. 3) The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt (Ungava peninsula, Quebec) is interpreted to represent the oldest preserved crust on Earth. Research in this area will help to better constrain the geological processes responsible for early crust formation and could also lead to the identification of more preserved fragments of early crust in this region.

我们对地球早期演化的了解非常有限，因为地球历史这个时代保存下来的岩石样本很少。关于原始地球的大部分信息来自对西澳大利亚更年轻的沉积物中发现的44亿年前的碎屑锆石的研究。地球表面现存的最古老的岩石样本是40亿到37亿年之间，这使得我们星球最初5亿年的历史没有出现在岩石记录中。因此，地球早期地壳的性质和形成过程在很大程度上仍然是推测的。最近使用142-Ne的研究表明，魁北克北部Nuvvuagittuq地体的岩石有44亿年的历史。142-Ne是一种对40亿年前的岩石形成特别敏感的同位素工具。因此，这些岩石将代表地球上最古老的岩石。然而，这种地体只是地壳的一小部分，研究其他古老的地壳地体对于了解第一个大陆是如何以及何时形成的至关重要。这项提案寻求资金，以支持专注于古代地形的研究。他们的研究将有助于限制早期地球的演化和导致原始地壳形成的地质过程。这项研究将集中在三个古老的加拿大地体：1)萨格勒克片麻岩杂岩(拉布拉多)，这是一个由38亿年前的岩石组成的地体。这一区域仍然相对不具特征，其随时间的准确演变在很大程度上也是未知的。2)中央奴隶地下室杂岩(西北地区)由大约40亿年前的岩石组成，称为阿卡斯塔片麻岩。Acasta片麻岩是由较老的玄武岩熔融而成的花岗岩形成的。对该地区玄武岩的进一步研究可能有助于确定阿卡斯塔片麻岩的一个更古老的前身。3)Nuvvuagittuq绿岩带(魁北克昂加瓦半岛)被解释为地球上最古老的保存下来的地壳。对这一地区的研究将有助于更好地约束导致早期地壳形成的地质过程，还可能导致在该地区发现更多保存完好的早期地壳碎片。