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Precambrian geology

Forming the oldest-surviving crust

The chemical signatures of granitic continental crust from the earliest Archean are consistent with formation during subduction, indicating some form of plate tectonics was active at the time.

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Fig. 1: Cartoon cross sections for different geodynamic scenarios in which to generate Eoarchean tonalites and trondhjemites (ETT).

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Correspondence to Allen P. Nutman.

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Nutman, A.P. Forming the oldest-surviving crust. Nat. Geosci. 16, 762–763 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01252-w

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