About 30% of the Earth is covered by continents, but only about 10 small kernels of these
continentsae—known as Archaean cratonsae—are continental fragments formed before 2.5 …

Passive margins have existed somewhere on Earth almost continually since 2740 Ma. They
were abundant at 1900–1890, 610–520, and 150–0 Ma, scarce at ca. 2445–2300, 1600 …

The ocean and atmosphere were largely anoxic in the early Precambrian, resulting in an Fe
cycle that was dramatically different than today's. Extremely Fe-rich sedimentary deposits …

Earth exhibits a dichotomy in elevation and chemical composition between the continents
and ocean floor. Reconstructing when this dichotomy arose is important for understanding …

The history of the growth of continental crust is uncertain, and several different models that
involve a gradual, decelerating, or stepwise process have been proposed,,–. Even more …

The response of the ocean redox state to the rise of atmospheric oxygen about 2.3 billion
years ago (Ga) is a matter of controversy. Here we provide iron isotope evidence that the …

We have compiled a record of the geochronology of mantle plume activity between 3.8 and
1.6 Ga. Over this time period, the ages of komatiites, and those of global plumes, correlate …

Glaciations have occurred episodically at different time intervals and for different durations in
Earth's history. Ice covers have formed in a wide range of plate tectonic and structural …

Precambrian cratonic pelites from the Kaapvaal Craton in southern Africa have similar REE
patterns with relative LREE enrichment and absence of significant depletion in HREEs. They …

Abstract U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope analyses, obtained by laser ablation-sector field-
inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry on zircon grains from 37 granitoid samples …