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 Earth is the only known planet where plate tectonics is active, and different studies have
concluded that plate tectonics commenced at times from the early Hadean to 700 Ma. Many …

Reconstructing Earth history during the Hadean defies the traditional rock-based approach
in geology. Given the extremely limited locality of Hadean zircons, some indirect approach …

Abstract Models for when and how the continental crust was formed are constrained by
estimates in the rates of crustal growth. The record of events preserved in the continental …

From the scant Hadean records of the Jack Hills to Cenozoic supervolcanoes, the
continental crust provides a synoptic view deep into Earth history. However, the information …

Resolving the modes of mantle convection through Earth history, ie when plate tectonics
started and what kind of mantle dynamics reigned before, is essential to the understanding …

It is estimated that around three quarters of Earth's first generation continental crust had
been produced by the end of the Archaean Eon, 2.5 billion years ago. This ancient …

The process that generated the continental crust has long been debated. One school argues
that, through most of geological time, the crust formed at convergent margins like most …

The presence of exposed land on the early Earth is a prerequisite for a certain type of
prebiotic chemical evolution in which the oscillating activity of water, driven by short-term …

80% of the continental crust was produced during the 4.0–2.0 Ga time span, but the
preserved area of Archean/early Paleoproterozoic cratons is smaller than 40%. Part of this …