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Trace-element fractionation in Hadean mantle generated by melt segregation from a magma ocean

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Abstract

Calculations of the energetics of terrestrial accretion indicate that the Earth was extensively molten in its early history1. Examination of early Archaean rocks from West Greenland (3.6–3.8 Gyr old) using short-lived 146Sm–142Nd chronometry indicates that an episode of mantle differentiation took place close to the end of accretion (4.46 ± 0.11 Gyr ago)2,3,4. This has produced a chemically depleted mantle with an Sm/Nd ratio higher than the chondritic value. In contrast, application of 176Lu–176Hf systematics to 3.6–3.8-Gyr-old zircons from West Greenland indicates derivation from a mantle source with a chondritic Lu/Hf ratio5,6,7. Although an early Sm/Nd fractionation could be explained by basaltic crust formation8, magma ocean crystallization2 or formation of continental crust, the absence of coeval Lu/Hf fractionation is in sharp contrast with the well-known covariant behaviour of Sm/Nd and Lu/Hf ratios in crustal formation processes5. Here we show using mineral–melt partitioning data for high-pressure mantle minerals that the observed Nd and Hf signatures could have been produced by segregation of melt from a crystallizing magma ocean at upper-mantle pressures early in Earth's history. This residual melt would have risen buoyantly and ultimately formed the earliest terrestrial protocrust.

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Figure 1: Model for the crystallization of a terrestrial magma ocean.
Figure 2: Evolution of Sm/Nd and Lu/Hf ratios of residual melt during crystallization of a magma ocean at lower-mantle pressures.
Figure 3: Fractionation of Sm/Nd and Lu/Hf ratios generated by segregation of melt from a crystallizing magma ocean under upper-mantle conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. G. S. Labrosse, J. Blichert-Toft and A. Halliday for discussions. Comments and suggestions by M. Rekhämper and J. Vervoort greatly improved the manuscript. This study was partly supported by the CNRS research programmes IT and PNP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Géochimie et Cosmochimie IPGP-CNRS, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252, Paris cedex, 05, France

    Guillaume Caro & Bernard Bourdon

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, BS8 1RJ, Bristol, UK

    Bernard J. Wood

  3. Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC, 20015, USA

    Alexandre Corgne

Authors
  1. Guillaume Caro
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  2. Bernard Bourdon
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  4. Alexandre Corgne
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Correspondence to Guillaume Caro.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure S1

Estimating the Lu/Hf ratio of hadean depleted mantle using Hf isotope data in Amîtsoq zircons (West Greenland, 3.6 - 3.8 Gyr). (PDF 83 kb)

Supplementary Table S1

Compilation of Lu-Hf data for Jack Hills (Australia) and Amîtsoq (West Greenland) zircons. (PDF 45 kb)

Supplementary Table S2

Crystal/melt partition coefficients for Lu, Hf, Sm and Nd used in fractional and equilibrium crystallization models. (PDF 40 kb)

Supplementary Equations

Equations applied in the modeling of Lu/Hf and Sm/Nd fractionation during magma ocean crystallization. (PDF 461 kb)

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Caro, G., Bourdon, B., Wood, B. et al. Trace-element fractionation in Hadean mantle generated by melt segregation from a magma ocean. Nature 436, 246–249 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03827

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