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

地球和行星科学中的一个基本问题是行星如何形成以及它们如何随着时间的推移而演变。地球化学和数值模型，以及行星类似物表明，地球从复杂的加工材料中增生，然后在形成后迅速进化。早期事件，如核分离，地幔分异和地壳形成似乎发生在地球吸积后不久。此外，在形成的最后阶段，地幔的成分因物质的不断增加而改变。在过去的几年里，短寿命同位素计时器的发展使得对地球吸积后不久发生的事件进行年代学研究成为可能。与板块构造有关的地幔对流和地壳再循环的混合作用减弱了原始地幔的不均匀性。然而，最近在太古代岩石中早期形成的同位素变化的文件要求原始化学水库的持续性超过10亿年。* 在未来五年内，我的研究计划将集中在涉及地球和行星科学的三个关键问题上：*1）影响早期地球地幔化学成分的主要事件的性质和时间是什么？* 2)早期形成的化学不均匀性在对流地幔中存活了多久？早期地球的对流形式是什么？3)地球的早期演化与其他类似行星（如小行星灶神星）相比吗？*该研究计划主要侧重于开发，改进和获取来自灭绝和长寿放射性同位素系统学的数据，以及获得不同行星材料的亲铁元素丰度。这些地球化学工具是理想的约束核心和地幔的早期演化，并调查的时间和后期增生的化学后果。该项目的研究结果将有助于改进地球早期发展阶段内部动态模型，并提供关于加拿大北方最古老地形的地质知识。该研究计划旨在让几名本科生和四名研究生参与，他们将获得一套与学术界和工业界相关的独特技能。

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. ******Over the next five years my research program will focus on three key problems involving Earth and planetary sciences:***1) What are the nature and timing of the major events affecting the chemical composition of the early Earth's mantle?***2) How long did early-formed chemical heterogeneities survive in the convective mantle, and what was the style of convection of the early Earth?***3) Is the early evolution of the Earth comparable to other planetary analogues like the asteroid Vesta?******This research program is strongly focused on the development, improvement and acquisition of data from extinct and long-lived radioactive isotope systematics, as well as obtaining siderophile element abundances for different planetary materials. These geochemical tools are ideal to constrain core and mantle early evolution, and investigate the timing and chemical consequences of late accretionary additions. The findings of this project will help to improve models of the internal dynamics of the Earth during its early stages of development, and provide geological knowledge about the oldest terrains in northern Canada. This research program is designed to involve several undergraduate and four graduate students who will acquire a unique set of skills that are relevant to both academia and industry.**