Geochemical evidence for a widespread mantle re-enrichment 3.2 billion years ago: implications for global-scale plate tectonics.

ABSTRACT: Progressive mantle melting during the Earth's earliest evolution led to the formation of a depleted mantle and a continental crust enriched in highly incompatible elements. Re-enrichment of Earth's mantle can occur when continental crustal materials begin to founder into the mantle by either subduction or, to a lesser degree, by delamination processes, profoundly affecting the mantle's trace element and volatile compositions. Deciphering when mantle re-enrichment/refertilization became a global-scale process would reveal the onset of efficient mass transfer of crust to the mantle and potentially when plate tectonic processes became operative on a global-scale. Here we document the onset of mantle re-enrichment/refertilization by comparing the abundances of petrogenetically significant isot

SUBMITTER: Gamal El Dien H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7289823 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature