Geol445 High Temperature Geochemistry Lecture

Evolution of the Earths

mantle and crust

Huan Cui
Department of Geology
University of Maryland
2013 fall semester

Bimodal topography of the Earth

( Global relief, figure from http://www.smate.wwu.edu/teched/geology/globe.html )

(Figure from Taylor and McLennan, 2005, Scientific American)

Continents ride high and ocean basins ride low. Why?

Continents are buoyed up by thick, low-density felsic (Si-rich and Mg-poor) rocks, such as
granodiorites and granites, whereas ocean basins are underlain by thinner- and higherdensity mafic (Si-poor and Mg-rich) rocks like basalt.

Issues related to the

Continental Crust
When did continental crust form (e.g., mass vs.
time)?
What is the composition of the continental crust
(and how is it determined)?
What can we infer about formation and
modification of continental crust from its
composition?

Pursue the composition

of the mantle and crust

Pursuing the composition of the crust

Ross Taylor (ANU) and Scott McLennan(StonyBrook)

1985

2010

Pursuing the composition of the crust

Nature 1995

ToG 2014

Roberta Rudnick (UMD)

Shan Gao (CUG-Wuhan)

ToG

Pursuing the composition of the mantle

Nature 1997

ToG 2014

Albrecht W. Hofmann (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry)

How to approach the

Earths mantle?
Direct sampling: orogenic massif, ophiolite, mantle
xenolith carried by volcanic lava
Mantle-derived volcanic lava (such as MORB, OIB)
Geophysical approaches: heat flow, density and
seismic velocity, as well as high-P and T experiments
Analogue composition of chondrite presumably
making the bulk Earth

Peridotite xenolith trapped in basalt

Samples that can

presumably represent the
upper continental crust
(diamictite, loess, shale)

Erosion and Chemical Weathering

Glacial Sediments

Figure from Grotzinger and Jordan, 2010, Understanding Earth 6th edition

Diamictite and Global Glaciation

Science 1998

Photo by Kaufman
Prof. Jay Kaufman exhausted after a climb to the Blaskranz diamictite in the
Naukluft nappes of central Namibia. 2013

Neoproterozoic Ghuab diamictite and Maieberg cap carbonate in Namibia

Loess Plateau

Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt.

Photo from internet

Devonian Marcellus Formation in Pennsylvania

Shale drilling core samples

Photo by Jay Kaufman

residence time

Insoluable elements in the sediments

Insoluble elements:
Transferred from
source of
weathering to
sediments

seawater upper crust partition coefficient

from Rudnick and Gao,
2014, ToG, 2nd edition.

Composition of
the crust

Upper crust major elements: grid sampling

Eade & Fahrig (1973): >14,000 grid samples

in outcrop-weighted composites, analyzed for
major & a few trace elements

Space shuttle view of Thunder Bay, Ontario

Upper crust major elements: Geological sampling

Gao et al. (1998): >11,000 samples from major

geological units in eastern China, analyzed for
major and many trace elements

Upper continental crust

is granitic (67 wt.% SiO2)

REE partition
coefficients for
mafic magmas
REE is incompatible ,
LREE is even more
incompatible than
HREE.
Compare LREE and HREE
Compare the D values
between different
minerals
Note the Eu in Plag
Note HREE in garnet

(Figure from Whites textbook Geochemistry 2013)

Comparison of REE patterns between (a)

average post-Archean shales and loess and
(b) various estimates of the upper continental
crust composition.
PAAS = post-Archean Australian Shale (Taylor
and McLennan, 1985);
NASC = North American shale composite
(Haskin et al., 1966);
ES = European shale composite (Haskin and
Haskin, 1966);
ECPAS = Eastern China post-Archean shale
(Gao et al., 1998a).
The loess range includes samples from China,
Spitsbergen, Argentina, and France (Gallet et
al., 1998; Jahn et al., 2001). Chondrite values
are from Taylor and McLennan (1985).
Figure from Rudnick and Gao, 2014, ToG 2nd edition

Figure from Rudnick and Gao, 2014, ToG 2nd edition

Composition of
the mantle

Continental crust

MORB

Residual mantle

Comparison of the abundances of trace and (some) major elements in average continental crust and average MORB.
Abundances are normalized to the primitive-mantle values (McDonough and Sun, 1995). Figure from Hofmann 2014.

Crust-mantle differentiation patterns for the decay systems

Crust-mantle differentiation
patterns for the decay
systems Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, Lu-Hf,
and Re-Os. The diagram
illustrates the depletionenrichment relationships of
the parent-daughter pairs,
which lead to the isotopic
differences between
continental crust and the
residual mantle.
Figure from Hofmann 2014.

Sr and Nd isotopes of the Earths mantle

Figures from Hofmann 2014.

Trace element of MORB

Trace element abundances of 250 MORB between 40S and 55Salong the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Each sample is
represented by one line. The data are normalized to primitive-mantle abundances of (McDonough and Sun,
1995) and shown in the order of mantle compatibility. This type of diagram is popularly known as
spidergram. The data have been filtered to remove the most highly fractionated samples containing less
than 5% MgO.Figure from Hofmann 2014.

A heterogeneous mantle:
Mantle Zoo

recycled oceanic crust

which lost alkali and Pb
during alteration/subduction)
recycled sediment?
recycled continental lithosphere,
lower continental crust,
ancient pelagic sediment?

FOZO (FOcal ZOne)

Figures from Hofmann 2014.

The growth of the

continental crust

Early Earth

Early Earth. Image credit: Peter Sawyer / Smithsonian Institution.

The Oldest Rocks on Earth

Graywacke sandstone, 3.8Ga,
Isukasia region, West Greenland

BIF, 3.8Ga, Isukasia

region, West Greenland

Gobble, 3.8Ga, Isukasia

region, West Greenland

Photo taken in Smithsonian natural history museum by Huan Cui

The Oldest Sedimentary Rocks

and fossils on Earth

Stromatolite, 3.5 Ga, Western Australia

From Book: Origin and Evolution of Earth 2008

Photo taken in Smithsonian natural history museum by Huan Cui

(From Van Kranendonk, The Geologic Time Scale 2012)

When did continental

crust form?
Crystallization age - Age of present
continental crust (U-Pb zircon)
Model ages crustal extraction (whole
rock Nd, zircon Hf isotopes)

U-Pb dating of zircons

Radioactive decay

206Pb + 8a
235U 207Pb + 7a
232Th 208Pb + 6a
238U

Half life

Decay constant

t1/2 = 4.47 x 109 y l1 = 1.551 x 10-10 yr-1

t1/2 = 7.04 x 108 y l2 = 9.849 x 10-10 yr-1
t1/2 = 1.40 x 1010 y l3 = 4.948 x 10-11 yr-1

Zircon has very high U/Pb ratio with almost no

non-radiogenic lead, making it a perfect
candidate for U-Pb dating.
This age is crystallization age ( model age).
206Pb/204Pb

= (206Pb/204Pb)i + 238U/204Pb (e1t 1)

207Pb/204Pb = (207Pb/204Pb) + 235U/204Pb (e2t 1)
i
208Pb/204Pb = (208Pb/204Pb) + 232Th/204Pb (e3t 1)
i

SmNd model ages

(Figure from Whites textbook
Geochemistry, 2013)

143Nd/144Nd

is extrapolated backward (slope depending on Sm/Nd) until it intersects

a mantle or chondritic growth curve. ( model age crystallization age )
Assumptions: Sm/Nd does not change during crustal differentiation; and Rocks do
not form as mixtures between crustal and mantle melts.

Nature 2001

Scale bars are 50 m.

Analyzed by SHRIMP II ion microprobe at Curtin University

Photo courtesy of Australian National University

Dating the oldest mineral on Earth

Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro Probe (SHRIMP)

Prof. Bill Compston at ANU

CL image of the 200 m diameter,

approximately 4.4 Ga Jack Hills zircon.
This zircon is the oldest-known part of
Earth. Ion microprobe analytical sites
are indicated by black ellipses with
ages in billions of years. Qt denotes
quartz inclusions in the zircon crystal.

Image by John Valley.

Taylor and McLennan, 2005, Scientific American

Different growth rate models for the

continental crust

Cawood et al. (2012). GSA Bull.

Continental growth rate models

by Taylor and McLennan

Taylor and McLennan, 2005, Scientific American

Peaks in Zircon U-Pb ages

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Age (Ga)

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

Cawood et al., 2013, GSAB

Peaks correspond to supercontinent formation.

Represent preferential preservation, rather than
crustal growth episodes?

Strontium isotope 87Sr/86Sr evolution

More chemical
weathering on land

(Halverson et al., 2007)

4.4 billion years of crustal maturation:

oxygen isotope ratios of magmatic zircon

(Valley et al., 2005 CMP)

Crust Composition
Conundrum

Mantle melting and the

production of oceanic crust

Basalt lava

Peridotite

Photo from internet

Crust Composition Paradox

Crust is andesitic,
Crust grows by addition of basalt,
Basalt is primary melt of peridotite mantle.
How did this evolved crust come about?

How?

Basalt

Andesite

The building is andesitic in composition, but the building blocks are basalt!!!???
Photo from internet

Bulk Continental crust

Oceanic crust

Mantle

(From Understanding Earth, 4th Edition)

Upper continental crust

Possible solutions to crust

composition paradox

Possible solutions to crust

composition paradox
Recycling of lower crust
Evolved melt addition: growth by
silicic slab melts
Weathering & seafloor alteration:
preferential return of Mg to mantle
Sub-Moho cumulates

Possible solutions to crust

composition paradox
Recycling of lower crust
Evolved melt addition: growth by
silicic slab melts
Weathering & seafloor alteration:
preferential return of Mg to mantle
Sub-Moho cumulates

Lower Crustal Recycling

(delamination, density foundering)
Lithospheric mantle

Eclogite

Whats requried*?

thickening of mafic
lower crust
granulite
eclogite
low viscosity

*Kay and Kay, 1991; Jull and Kelemen, 2001

From Laubcher

Possible Solutions to the Crust

Composition Paradox
Recycling of lower crust
Evolved melt addition: growth by
silicic slab melts
Weathering & seafloor alteration:
preferential return of Mg to mantle
Sub-Moho cumulates

Archean Subduction
(after Martin, 1986)

From Rudnicks slides

Possible Solutions to the Crust

Composition Paradox
Recycling of lower crust
Evolved melt addition: growth by
silicic slab melts
Weathering & seafloor alteration:
preferential return of Mg to mantle
Sub-Moho cumulates

The weathering solution

From Rudnicks slides

Using a mass balance model for lithium

inputs and outputs from the continental
crust, we find that the mass of
continental crust that has been lost due
to chemical weathering is at least 15% of
the original mass of the juvenile
continental crust, and may be as high as
60%, with a best estimate of
approximately 45%.
Our results suggest that chemical
weathering and subsequent subduction
of soluble elements have major impacts
on both the mass and the compositional
evolution of the continental crust.

Possible Solutions to the Crust

Composition Paradox
Recycling of lower crust
Evolved melt addition: growth by
silicic slab melts
Weathering & seafloor alteration:
preferential return of Mg to mantle
Sub-Moho cumulates

The cumulate solution

Vp
<6-6.3 km/s
6.4-6.7 km/s
6.9-7.5 km/s

Continental Crust
high density cumulates:
pyroxenites, dunites
Vp 7.8 km/s

Sub-Moho "crust"
From Rudnicks slides

Earths Crust in a
Planetary Perspective

Earth is the only terrestrial

planet with continents.

Earth is the only planet with

liquid water.
Coincidence?
Apollo 17 view of Earth

No Water, No Granites
No Oceans, No Continents

No Water, No Granites
No Oceans, No Continents

Big Questions
Relative contributions of weathering, lower
crustal recycling, slab melting to crustal
signature?
Nature and volume of pre 4.0 Ga crust?

Secular change in crust composition?

Relationship between continental lithospheric
mantle and overlying crust?

Earths Oxygenation

Credit: S. Selkirk after L. Kump.

Welcome to visit the GEOL445 High Temperature

Geochemistry Lab website:
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~hcui/HighTemp.html