a modified form until the late Proterozoic without deep
subduction and the production of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belts. In the early Archean, the production of
early SiO 2 -rich crust may have been caused by melting
at the base of a uniformly thick global crust or oceanic plateaux, with or without subduction as on the modern Earth.
In the past few years, the number of lines of evidence for
cool conditions at the end of the Hadean is increasing,
such as the stable isotope signatures of zircons and the
composition of TTG gneisses. The importance and abundance of komatiites and exceptional mantle temperatures
in the Archean may have been overestimated in the past.
Bibliography
Anderson, D. L., 1989. Theory of the Earth. Boston: Blackwell,
p. 366.
Arndt, N. T., and Nisbet, E. G., 1982. Komatiites. London: Allen &
Unwin, p. 526.
Bickle, M. J., Nisbet, E. G., and Martin, A., 1994. Archean greenstone belts are not oceanic crust. Journal of Geology, 102,
121–138.
Brown, M., 2007. Metamorphic conditions in orogenic belts:
a record of secular change. International Geology Review, 49,
193–234.
Buick, R., Thornett, J. R., McNaughton, N. J., Smith, J. B., Barley,
M. E., and Savage, M., 1995. Record of emergent continental
crust 3.5 billion years ago in the Pilbara Craton of Australia.
Nature, 375, 574–577.
Canup, R. M., and Asphaug, E., 2001. Origin of the moon in a giant
impact near the end of the Earth’s formation. Nature, 412,
708–712.
Carey, S. W., 1975. The expanding earth: an essay review. Earth
Science Reviews, 11, 105–143.
Chardon, D., Choukroune, P., and Jayananda, M., 1996. Strain patterns, decollement and incipient sagducted greenstone terrains in
the Archaean Dharwar craton (southern India). Journal of Structural Geology, 18, 991–1004.
Condie, K. C., 1989. Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution.
Oxford: Pergamon Press, p. 476.
Condie, K. C., and Kroner, A., 2008. When did plate tectonics
begin? Evidence from the geological record. Geological Society
of America, Special Paper, 440, 281–294.
Davies, G. F., 1995. Punctuated tectonic evolution of the Earth.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 36, 363–380.
De Wit, M. J., 1998. On Archean granites, greenstones, cratons and
tectonics: does the evidence demand a verdict? Precambrian
Research, 91, 181–226.
Dewey, J. F., and Bird, J. M., 1970. Mountain belts and the new
global tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 75,
2625–2647.
Dhuime, B., Hawkesworth, C. J., Cawood, P. A., and Storey, C. D.,
2012. A change in the geodynamics of continental growth
3 billion years ago. Science, 355, 1334–1336.
Dickinson, W. R., 1970. Relations of andesites, granites, and derivative sandstones to arc-trench tectonics. Reviews of Geophysics
and Space Physics, 8, 813–860.
Eriksson, K. A., Krapez, B., and Fralick, P. W., 1994. Sedimentology of Archean greenstone belts – signatures of tectonic evolution. Earth-Science Reviews, 37, 1–88.
Evans, D. A. D., and Pisarevsky, S. A., 2008. Plate tectonics on
early Earth? Weighing the paleomagnetic evidence. Geological
Society of America, Special Paper, 440, 249–263.
Foley, S., Tiepolo, M., and Vannucci, R., 2002. Growth of early continental crust controlled by melting of amphibolite in subduction
zones. Nature, 417, 837–840.
Fowler, C. M. R., 2005. The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global
Geophysics. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 685.
Hawkesworth, C. J., and Kemp, A. I. S., 2006. Evolution of the continental crust. Nature, 443, 811–817.
Hoffman, P. F., and Ranalli, G., 1988. Archean oceanic flake tectonics. Geophysical Research Letters, 15, 1077–1080.
Hooper, P. R., Binfer, G. B., and Lees, K. R., 2002. Ages of the
Steens and Columbia River flood basalts and their relationship
to extension-related calc-alkalic volcanism in eastern Oregon.
Geological Society of America Bulletin, 114, 43–50.
Isacks, B., Oliver, J., and Sykes, L. R., 1968. Seismology and the
new global tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 73,
5855–5899.
Jacob, D. E., 2004. Nature and origin of eclogite xenoliths from
kimberlites. Lithos, 77, 295–316.
Le Pichon, X., 1968. Sea-floor spreading and continental drift.
Journal of Geophysical Research, 73, 3661–3696.
Lee, D. C., Halliday, A. N., Snyder, G. A., and Taylor, L. A., 1997.
Age and origin of the moon. Science, 278, 1098–1103.
Martin, H., 1999. Adakitic magmas: modern analogues of Archaean
granitoids. Lithos, 46, 411–429.
McKenzie, D. P., and Morgan, W. J., 1969. Evolution of triple junctions. Nature, 224, 125–133.
McKenzie, D. P., and Parker, R. L., 1967. The North Pacific: an
example of tectonics on a sphere. Nature, 216, 1276–1280.
Mints, M. V., Belousova, E. A., Konilov, A. N., Natapov, L. M.,
Shchipansky, A. A., Griffin, W. L., O’Reilly, S. Y., Dokukina,
K. A., and Kaulina, T. V., 2010. Mesoarchean subduction
processes: 2.87 Ga eclogites from the Kola Peninsula, Russia.
Geology, 38, 739–742.
Miyashiro, A., 1961. Evolution of metamorphic belts. Journal of
Petrology, 2, 277–311.
Mloszewska, A. M., Pecoits, E., Cates, N. L., Mojzsis, S. J., O’Neil,
J., Robbins, L. J., and Konhauser, K. O., 2012. The composition
of Earth’s oldest iron formations: the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal
Belt (Quebec, Canada). Earth and Planetary Science Letters,
317–318, 331–342.
Moeller, A., Appel, P., Mezger, K., and Schenk, V., 1995. Evidence
for a 2 Ga subduction zone: eclogites in the Usagaran Belt of
Tanzania. Geology, 23, 1067–1100.
Moyen, J.-F., Stevens, G., and Kister, A., 2006. Record of
mid-Archean subduction from metamorphism in the Barberton
terrain, South Africa. Nature, 442, 559–562.
Neal, C. R., Mahoney, J. J., Kroenke, L. W., Duncan, R. W., and
Petterson, M. G., 1997. The Ontong-Java plateau. American
Geophysical Union Monograph, 100, 183–216.
Nutman, A. P., Bennett, V. C., Friend, C. R. L., and Norman, M. D.,
1999. Meta-igneous (non-gneissic) tonalites and quartz diorites
from an extensive ca. 3800 Ma terrain south of the Isua
supracrustal belt, southwest Greenland: constraints on early crust
formation. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 137,
364–388.
O’Neill, C., Lenardic, A., Moresi, L., Torsvik, T. H., and Lee,
C. T. A., 2007. Episodic Precambrian subduction. Earth and
Planetary Science Letters, 262, 552–562.
Pearce, J. A., 2008. Geochemical fingerprinting of oceanic basalts
with applications to ophiolite classification and the search for
Archean oceanic crust. Lithos, 100, 14–48.
Peltonen, P., and Kontinen, A., 2004. The Jormua Ophiolite:
a mafic-ultramafic complex from an ancient ocean-continent
transition zone. In Kusky, T. M. (ed.), Precambrian Ophiolites
and Related Rocks. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Developments in
Precambrian Geology 13, pp. 35–72.
ANCIENT PLATE TECTONICS
19
subduction and the production of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic belts. In the early Archean, the production of
early SiO 2 -rich crust may have been caused by melting
at the base of a uniformly thick global crust or oceanic plateaux, with or without subduction as on the modern Earth.
In the past few years, the number of lines of evidence for
cool conditions at the end of the Hadean is increasing,
such as the stable isotope signatures of zircons and the
composition of TTG gneisses. The importance and abundance of komatiites and exceptional mantle temperatures
in the Archean may have been overestimated in the past.
Bibliography
Anderson, D. L., 1989. Theory of the Earth. Boston: Blackwell,
p. 366.
Arndt, N. T., and Nisbet, E. G., 1982. Komatiites. London: Allen &
Unwin, p. 526.
Bickle, M. J., Nisbet, E. G., and Martin, A., 1994. Archean greenstone belts are not oceanic crust. Journal of Geology, 102,
121–138.
Brown, M., 2007. Metamorphic conditions in orogenic belts:
a record of secular change. International Geology Review, 49,
193–234.
Buick, R., Thornett, J. R., McNaughton, N. J., Smith, J. B., Barley,
M. E., and Savage, M., 1995. Record of emergent continental
crust 3.5 billion years ago in the Pilbara Craton of Australia.
Nature, 375, 574–577.
Canup, R. M., and Asphaug, E., 2001. Origin of the moon in a giant
impact near the end of the Earth’s formation. Nature, 412,
708–712.
Carey, S. W., 1975. The expanding earth: an essay review. Earth
Science Reviews, 11, 105–143.
Chardon, D., Choukroune, P., and Jayananda, M., 1996. Strain patterns, decollement and incipient sagducted greenstone terrains in
the Archaean Dharwar craton (southern India). Journal of Structural Geology, 18, 991–1004.
Condie, K. C., 1989. Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution.
Oxford: Pergamon Press, p. 476.
Condie, K. C., and Kroner, A., 2008. When did plate tectonics
begin? Evidence from the geological record. Geological Society
of America, Special Paper, 440, 281–294.
Davies, G. F., 1995. Punctuated tectonic evolution of the Earth.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 36, 363–380.
De Wit, M. J., 1998. On Archean granites, greenstones, cratons and
tectonics: does the evidence demand a verdict? Precambrian
Research, 91, 181–226.
Dewey, J. F., and Bird, J. M., 1970. Mountain belts and the new
global tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 75,
2625–2647.
Dhuime, B., Hawkesworth, C. J., Cawood, P. A., and Storey, C. D.,
2012. A change in the geodynamics of continental growth
3 billion years ago. Science, 355, 1334–1336.
Dickinson, W. R., 1970. Relations of andesites, granites, and derivative sandstones to arc-trench tectonics. Reviews of Geophysics
and Space Physics, 8, 813–860.
Eriksson, K. A., Krapez, B., and Fralick, P. W., 1994. Sedimentology of Archean greenstone belts – signatures of tectonic evolution. Earth-Science Reviews, 37, 1–88.
Evans, D. A. D., and Pisarevsky, S. A., 2008. Plate tectonics on
early Earth? Weighing the paleomagnetic evidence. Geological
Society of America, Special Paper, 440, 249–263.
Foley, S., Tiepolo, M., and Vannucci, R., 2002. Growth of early continental crust controlled by melting of amphibolite in subduction
zones. Nature, 417, 837–840.
Fowler, C. M. R., 2005. The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global
Geophysics. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 685.
Hawkesworth, C. J., and Kemp, A. I. S., 2006. Evolution of the continental crust. Nature, 443, 811–817.
Hoffman, P. F., and Ranalli, G., 1988. Archean oceanic flake tectonics. Geophysical Research Letters, 15, 1077–1080.
Hooper, P. R., Binfer, G. B., and Lees, K. R., 2002. Ages of the
Steens and Columbia River flood basalts and their relationship
to extension-related calc-alkalic volcanism in eastern Oregon.
Geological Society of America Bulletin, 114, 43–50.
Isacks, B., Oliver, J., and Sykes, L. R., 1968. Seismology and the
new global tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 73,
5855–5899.
Jacob, D. E., 2004. Nature and origin of eclogite xenoliths from
kimberlites. Lithos, 77, 295–316.
Le Pichon, X., 1968. Sea-floor spreading and continental drift.
Journal of Geophysical Research, 73, 3661–3696.
Lee, D. C., Halliday, A. N., Snyder, G. A., and Taylor, L. A., 1997.
Age and origin of the moon. Science, 278, 1098–1103.
Martin, H., 1999. Adakitic magmas: modern analogues of Archaean
granitoids. Lithos, 46, 411–429.
McKenzie, D. P., and Morgan, W. J., 1969. Evolution of triple junctions. Nature, 224, 125–133.
McKenzie, D. P., and Parker, R. L., 1967. The North Pacific: an
example of tectonics on a sphere. Nature, 216, 1276–1280.
Mints, M. V., Belousova, E. A., Konilov, A. N., Natapov, L. M.,
Shchipansky, A. A., Griffin, W. L., O’Reilly, S. Y., Dokukina,
K. A., and Kaulina, T. V., 2010. Mesoarchean subduction
processes: 2.87 Ga eclogites from the Kola Peninsula, Russia.
Geology, 38, 739–742.
Miyashiro, A., 1961. Evolution of metamorphic belts. Journal of
Petrology, 2, 277–311.
Mloszewska, A. M., Pecoits, E., Cates, N. L., Mojzsis, S. J., O’Neil,
J., Robbins, L. J., and Konhauser, K. O., 2012. The composition
of Earth’s oldest iron formations: the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal
Belt (Quebec, Canada). Earth and Planetary Science Letters,
317–318, 331–342.
Moeller, A., Appel, P., Mezger, K., and Schenk, V., 1995. Evidence
for a 2 Ga subduction zone: eclogites in the Usagaran Belt of
Tanzania. Geology, 23, 1067–1100.
Moyen, J.-F., Stevens, G., and Kister, A., 2006. Record of
mid-Archean subduction from metamorphism in the Barberton
terrain, South Africa. Nature, 442, 559–562.
Neal, C. R., Mahoney, J. J., Kroenke, L. W., Duncan, R. W., and
Petterson, M. G., 1997. The Ontong-Java plateau. American
Geophysical Union Monograph, 100, 183–216.
Nutman, A. P., Bennett, V. C., Friend, C. R. L., and Norman, M. D.,
1999. Meta-igneous (non-gneissic) tonalites and quartz diorites
from an extensive ca. 3800 Ma terrain south of the Isua
supracrustal belt, southwest Greenland: constraints on early crust
formation. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 137,
364–388.
O’Neill, C., Lenardic, A., Moresi, L., Torsvik, T. H., and Lee,
C. T. A., 2007. Episodic Precambrian subduction. Earth and
Planetary Science Letters, 262, 552–562.
Pearce, J. A., 2008. Geochemical fingerprinting of oceanic basalts
with applications to ophiolite classification and the search for
Archean oceanic crust. Lithos, 100, 14–48.
Peltonen, P., and Kontinen, A., 2004. The Jormua Ophiolite:
a mafic-ultramafic complex from an ancient ocean-continent
transition zone. In Kusky, T. M. (ed.), Precambrian Ophiolites
and Related Rocks. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Developments in
Precambrian Geology 13, pp. 35–72.
ANCIENT PLATE TECTONICS
19