Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Earth’s first stable continents did not form by subduction

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 10 May 2017

Abstract

The geodynamic environment in which Earth’s first continents formed and were stabilized remains controversial1. Most exposed continental crust that can be dated back to the Archaean eon (4 billion to 2.5 billion years ago) comprises tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite rocks (TTGs) that were formed through partial melting of hydrated low-magnesium basaltic rocks2; notably, these TTGs have ‘arc-like’ signatures of trace elements and thus resemble the continental crust produced in modern subduction settings3. In the East Pilbara Terrane, Western Australia, low-magnesium basalts of the Coucal Formation at the base of the Pilbara Supergroup have trace-element compositions that are consistent with these being source rocks for TTGs. These basalts may be the remnants of a thick (more than 35 kilometres thick), ancient (more than 3.5 billion years old) basaltic crust4,5 that is predicted to have existed if Archaean mantle temperatures were much hotter than today’s6,7,8. Here, using phase equilibria modelling of the Coucal basalts, we confirm their suitability as TTG ‘parents’, and suggest that TTGs were produced by around 20 per cent to 30 per cent melting of the Coucal basalts along high geothermal gradients (of more than 700 degrees Celsius per gigapascal). We also analyse the trace-element composition of the Coucal basalts, and propose that these rocks were themselves derived from an earlier generation of high-magnesium basaltic rocks, suggesting that the arc-like signature in Archaean TTGs was inherited from an ancestral source lineage. This protracted, multistage process for the production and stabilization of the first continents—coupled with the high geothermal gradients—is incompatible with modern-style plate tectonics, and favours instead the formation of TTGs near the base of thick, plateau-like basaltic crust9. Thus subduction was not required to produce TTGs in the early Archaean eon.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Trace-element geochemistry.
Figure 2: Phase equilibria modelling.
Figure 3: For the average Coucal basalt, a plot of calculated modal proportions for melting along an apparent geotherm of 900 °C GPa−1, and a comparison of calculated melt compositions with natural TTGs.
Figure 4: Trace-element modelling.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Condie, K. C. & Pease, V. When Did Plate Tectonics Begin On Planet Earth? 7th edn (Geol. Soc. Am., 2008)

  2. Johnson, T. E., Brown, M., Kaus, B. J. P. & VanTongeren, J. A. Delamination and recycling of Archaean crust caused by gravitational instabilities. Nat. Geosci. 7, 47–52 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rapp, R. P., Shimizu, N. & Norman, M. D. Growth of early continental crust by partial melting of eclogite. Nature 425, 605–609 (2003)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Smithies, R. H., Champion, D. C. & Van Kranendonk, M. J. Formation of Paleoarchean continental crust through infracrustal melting of enriched basalt. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 281, 298–306 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zegers, T. E. & van Keken, P. E. Middle Archean continent formation by crustal delamination. Geology 29, 1083–1086 (2001)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Herzberg, C., Condie, K. & Korenaga, J. Thermal history of the Earth and its petrological expression. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 292, 79–88 (2010)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Herzberg, C. & Rudnick, R. Formation of cratonic lithosphere: an integrated thermal and petrological model. Lithos 149, 4–15 (2012)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Korenaga, J. Urey ratio and the structure and evolution of Earth’s mantle. Rev. Geophys. 46, RG2007 (2008)

  9. Sizova, E., Gerya, T., Stüwe, K. & Brown, M. Generation of felsic crust in the Archean: a geodynamic modeling perspective. Precambr. Res. 271, 198–224 (2015)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Moyen, J. F. The composite Archaean grey gneisses: petrological significance, and evidence for a non-unique tectonic setting for Archaean crustal growth. Lithos 123, 21–36 (2011)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Rapp, R. P. & Watson, E. B. Dehydration melting of metabasalt at 8–32 kbar: implications for continental growth and crust-mantle recycling. J. Petrol. 36, 891–931 (1995)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Foley, S., Tiepolo, M. & Vannucci, R. Growth of early continental crust controlled by melting of amphibolite in subduction zones. Nature 417, 837–840 (2002)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Martin, H. The Archean grey gneisses and the genesis of continental crust. Dev. Precamb. Geol. 11, 205–259 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Smithies, R. H. The Archaean tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) series is not an analogue of Cenozoic adakite. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 182, 115–125 (2000)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Bédard, J. H. A catalytic delamination-driven model for coupled genesis of Archaean crust and sub-continental lithospheric mantle. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 70, 1188–1214 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Willbold, M., Hegner, E., Stracke, A. & Rocholl, A. Continental geochemical signatures in dacites from Iceland and implications for models of early Archaean crust formation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 279, 44–52 (2009)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Moyen, J. F. & Stevens, G. in Archean Geodynamics and Environments (eds Benn, K., Mareschal, J.-C. & Condie, K. C ) 149–175 (Am. Geophys. Union, 2006)

  18. Martin, H. & Moyen, J.-F. Secular changes in tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite composition as markers of the progressive cooling of Earth. Geology 30, 319–322 (2002)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Green, E. C. R. et al. Activity-composition relations for the calculation of partial melting equilibria in metabasic rocks. J. Metamorph. Geol. 34, 845–869 (2016)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Van Kranendonk, M. J., Hickman, A. H., Smithes, R. H. & Nelson, D. R. Geology and tectonic evolution of the Archean North Pilbara Terrain, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Econ. Geol. 97, 695–732 (2002)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Van Kranendonk, M. J. et al. Making it thick: a volcanic plateau origin of Palaeoarchean continental lithosphere of the Pilbara and Kaapvaal cratons. Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. 389, 83–111 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Kerrich, R., Polat, A., Wyman, D. & Hollings, P. Trace element systematics of Mg-, to Fe-tholeiitic basalt suites of the Superior Province: implications for Archean mantle reservoirs and greenstone belt genesis. Lithos 46, 163–187 (1999)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Condie, K. C. Incompatible element ratios in oceanic basalts and komatiites: tracking deep mantle sources and continental growth rates with time. Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 4, 1–28 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Berry, A. J. et al. Oxidation state of iron in komatiitic melt inclusions indicates hot Archaean mantle. Nature 455, 960–963 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Brown, M. The contribution of metamorphic petrology to understanding lithosphere evolution and geodynamics. Geosci. Frontiers 5, 553–569 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Xiong, X. et al. Partitioning of Nb and Ta between rutile and felsic melt and the fractionation of Nb/Ta during partial melting of hydrous metabasalt. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 75, 1673–1692 (2011)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. McKenzie, D. & O’Nions, R. K. Partial melt distributions from inversion of rare earth element concentrations. J. Petrol. 32, 1021–1091 (1991)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Sun, S.-s. & McDonough, W. F. Chemical and isotopic systematics of oceanic basalts: implications for mantle composition and processes. Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. 42, 313–345 (1989)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Powell, R. & Holland, T. J. B. An internally consistent dataset with uncertainties and correlations: 3. Applications to geobarometry, worked examples and a computer program. J. Metamorph. Geol. 6, 173–204 (1988)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Holland, T. J. B. & Powell, R. An improved and extended internally consistent thermodynamic dataset for phases of petrological interest, involving a new equation of state for solids. J. Metamorph. Geol. 29, 333–383 (2011)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. White, R. W., Powell, R., Holland, T. J. B., Johnson, T. E. & Green, E. C. R. New mineral activity-composition relations for thermodynamic calculations in metapelitic systems. J. Metamorph. Geol. 32, 261–286 (2014)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. White, R. W., Powell, R. & Clarke, G. L. The interpretation of reaction textures in Fe-rich metapelitic granulites of the Musgrave Block, Central Australia: constraints from mineral equilibria calculations in the system. J. Metamorph. Geol. 20, 41–55 (2002)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. White, R., Powell, R., Holland, T. & Worley, B. The effect of TiO2 and Fe2O3 on metapelitic assemblages at greenschist and amphibolite facies conditions: mineral equilibria calculations in the system K2O-FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-H2O-TiO2-Fe2O3 . J. Metamorph. Geol. 18, 497–511 (2000)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  34. Holland, T. & Powell, R. Activity–composition relations for phases in petrological calculations: an asymmetric multicomponent formulation. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 145, 492–501 (2003)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. Boehnke, P., Watson, E. B., Trail, D., Harrison, T. M. & Schmitt, A. K. Zircon saturation re-revisited. Chem. Geol. 351, 324–334 (2013)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Stimac, J. & Hickmott, D. Trace-element partition coefficients for ilmenite, orthopyroxene and pyrrhotite in rhyolite determined by micro-PIXE analysis. Chem. Geol. 117, 313–330 (1994)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from The Institute of Geoscience Research (TIGeR) at Curtin University. R.H.S. publishes with the permission of the Executive Director, Geological Survey of Western Australia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

T.E.J. conceived the project and performed the phase equilibria calculations. N.J.G. undertook the trace-element modelling. All authors analysed the data and contributed to writing the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tim E. Johnson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Additional information

Reviewer Information Nature thanks J. Bédard, R. Rapp and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 Variation diagrams for samples of the Coucal basalts.

a, La/Nb versus Ti/Gd ratios. b, La/Nb ratios versus MgO (wt%) concentration. c, La/Nb ratios versus wt% silica (SiO2, anhydrous) concentrations. d, Th/Nb ratios versus wt% SiO2 (anhydrous) concentrations. Five samples (green dots) that define a trend to higher La/Nb and Th/Nb ratios with increasing SiO2 levels and decreasing Ti/Gd ratios are thought to have undergone assimilation of felsic crust4 and were excluded from subsequent modelling. The remaining ten samples (pink dots), with low Th/Nb and La/Nb ratios, are considered to be free of major crustal influence22,23.

Extended Data Figure 2 Full phase diagram for the average Coucal basalt.

Full pressure–temperature (P–T) pseudosection for the average uncontaminated Coucal basalt (n = 10), using an Fe3+/ΣFe ratio of 0.1 (ref. 24) and a water content just sufficient to saturate the solidus at 1.0 GPa. The red dashed lines show melt proportions as mol% on a one-oxide basis to approximate vol%. The white dashed lines show linear geotherms in °C per gigapascal. The 900 °C GPa−1 geotherm discussed in detail in the text, is shown in yellow. This diagram forms the basis for the simplified version shown in Fig. 2. aug, augite; bi, biotite; g, garnet; hb, hornblende; H2O, aqueous fluid; ilm, ilmenite; ksp, K-feldspar; L, melt; mt, magnetite; muscovite (mu); opx, orthopyroxene; pl, plagioclase; q, quartz; ru, rutile; sph, sphene = titanite.

Extended Data Figure 3 Apparent geotherms recorded in metamorphic rocks dated to 2.4 Gyr ago or older.

The geotherms (T/P) are shown in units of °C per gigapascal. All but one rock of Archaean age (2.5 Gyr or older) record apparent geotherms of 500 °C GPa−1 or higher, and most are more than, or much more than, 700 °C GPa−1 (M.B. and T.E.J., manuscript in preparation). These findings are consistent with a global database of TTG compositions, 76% of which are LP- and MP-TTGs10 (see yellow and green fields in Fig. 2).

Extended Data Figure 4 Calculated melt compositions for melting along apparent geotherms of 700 °C GPa−1 and 1,100 °C GPa−1.

Calculated composition of melt produced from the average Coucal basalt along linear geotherms of 700 °C GPa−1 (top) and 1,100 °C GPa−1 (bottom) at various melt fractions (5–40%), normalized to the average composition of Palaeoarchaean East Pilbara TTG. The grey shaded region shows the 2σ envelope on the average Palaeoarchaean East Pilbara TTG data. Also shown are the average composition of TTGs and potassic granitoids worldwide10. As with the 900 °C GPa−1 data (Fig. 3a), the modelled melt compositions fit best at melt fractions of 20–30 mol% (approximate vol%).

Extended Data Figure 5 Calculated modal proportion for melting along apparent geotherms of 700 °C GPa−1 and 1,100 °C GPa−1.

Plots of modal proportions versus temperature (also known as modebox diagrams) showing the changing abundance of phases, modelled along linear geotherms of 700 °C GPa−1 (top) and 1,100 °C GPa−1 (bottom). Assemblages developed along the cooler geotherm (700 °C GPa−1) contain (at temperatures greater than 700 °C) abundant garnet, as well as a small quantity (<2 mol%) of suprasolidus sphene (titanite) at lower temperatures (less than 750 °C), of ilmenite at intermediate temperatures (700–860 °C), and of rutile at temperatures higher than 800 °C (that is, these assemblages are HP-TTGs). Little garnet and no rutile forms along the 1,100 °C GPa−1 geotherm, consistent with the formation of LP- and MP-TTGs; all of these assemblages contain a small amount (less than 2 mol%) of ilmenite, but no sphene.

Extended Data Table 1 Major-element oxide (wt%) and trace-element (p.p.m.) bulk rock composition of Coucal basalts
Extended Data Table 2 Major-element oxide (wt%) and trace-element (p.p.m.) bulk rock composition of Palaeoarchaean East Pilbara Terrane (EPT) TTGs
Extended Data Table 3 Calculated modes (in mol%, approximating vol%) of minerals and melt at various temperatures along the 900 °C GPa−1, 700 °C GPa−1 and 1,100 °C GPa−1 geotherms
Extended Data Table 4 Normalized anhydrous compositions (wt%) of the average East Pilbara Terrane (EPT) TTG, average potassic grey gneisses, LP-, MP- and HP-TTGs, and modelled melts in the NCKFMAS system
Extended Data Table 5 The partition coefficients (D) used for trace-element modelling

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

This file contains source data for Extended Data Table 1. (XLSX 67 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

This file contains source data for Extended Data Table 2. (XLSX 61 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Johnson, T., Brown, M., Gardiner, N. et al. Earth’s first stable continents did not form by subduction. Nature 543, 239–242 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21383

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21383

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing