Understanding of secular evolution of the Earth system is based largely on the rock and
mineral archive preserved in the continental lithosphere. Based on the frequency and range …

The end of the Archean aeon (3.0–2.5 Ga) was a period of fundamental change in many
aspects of the geological record. In Archean cratons, this timespan is marked by a …

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

This work examines the global distribution of Archaean and modern igneous rock's
compositions, without relying on preconceptions about the link between rock compositions …

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 …

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 …

Earth's continental crust is dominantly made of buoyant, felsic igneous material (granitoids),
that was ultimately extracted from the mantle as a result of Earth's differentiation. Since felsic …

Zircon has played a critically important role in our understanding of the growth and evolution
of the Earth. The U–Pb isotope system as preserved in zircon, more than any other mineral …

The strong resilience of the mineral zircon and its ability to host a wealth of isotopic
information make it the best deep-time archive of Earth's continental crust. Zircon is found in …

Until recently it was assumed that the Archaean continental crust (made of TTGs: tonalites,
trondhjemites, and granodiorites) was generated through partial melting of MORB-like …