One of the most contentious areas of Earth Science today is when, or whether or not modern-
style plate tectonics was in operation in the Archean Eon. In this review we present evidence …

If we accept that a critical condition for plate tectonics is the creation and maintenance of a
global network of narrow boundaries separating multiple plates, then to argue for plate …

About four billion years ago, Earth's outer layer is thought to have been composed mostly of
a 25-to 50-km-thick basaltic crust that differentiated to form the oldest stable continental …

The lower plate is the dominant agent in modern convergent margins characterized by
active subduction, as negatively buoyant oceanic lithosphere sinks into the asthenosphere …

The geodynamic environment in which Earth's first continents formed and were stabilized
remains controversial. Most exposed continental crust that can be dated back to the …

TTGs (tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite) are one of the archetypical lithologies of
Archaean cratons. Since their original description in the 1970s, they have been the subject …

Much of the current volume of Earth's continental crust had formed by the end of the
Archaean eon (2.5 billion years ago), through melting of hydrated basaltic rocks at depths of …

The generation, preservation and destruction of continental crust on Earth is of wide interest
in understanding the formation of continents, cratons and supercontinents as well as related …

The continental crust is unique to the Earth in the solar system, and controversies remain
regarding its origin, accretion and reworking of continents. The plate tectonics theory has …

When and how Earth's earliest continents—the cratons—first emerged above the oceans (ie,
emersion) remain uncertain. Here, we analyze a craton-wide record of Paleo-to …