Kranendonk M.J. van, Smithies R.H., Bennett V.C. (Eds.) Earth’s Oldest Rocks

Amsterdam: Elsevier. – 2007. – 1330 p. (Developments in Precambrian Geology, 15) The geological history of early Earth holds a certain ineluctable fascination, not just for professional Earth Scientists and geology students, but for scientists in other disciplines, as well as many in the general public. This fascination with early Earth is compelling, not least because we know so little about it, but also because – as with the search for life on ancient Earth and elsewhere in the solar system – it casts light on the fundamental issues of our existence: who are we; how are we here? To facilitate a better understanding of these questions, we need to know how our home planet formed, what it was like in its early history, how it was able to foster the development of life, and how it evolved into the planet we live on today. We had two main aims in mind when inviting authors to contribute papers to this book. The first aim, reflected in the main title of the book, was to compile a geological record of Earth’s Oldest Rocks, with thorough descriptions of as much of the oldest continental crust as possible, and with a focus on the rocks. The second aim was to gain a better understanding of the tectonic processes that gave rise to the formation and preservation of these oldest pieces of continental crust, and when and how early tectonic processes changed to a plate tectonic Earth operating more or less as we know it today. This book is organised into eight parts, including an Introduction, five parts describing the geology of Earth’s oldest rocks, a part on early life, and a final part on the tectonics of early Earth.Dedication Contributing Authors
Preface: Aims, Scope, and Outline of the BookOverview and History of Investigation of Early Earth Rocks
The Distribution of Paleoarchean CrustPlanetary Accretion And The Hadean To Eoarchean Earth – Building The Foundation
The Formation of the Earth and Moon
Early Solar System Materials, Processes, and Chronology
Dynamics of the Hadean and Archaean Mantle
The Enigma of the Terrestrial Protocrust: Evidence for Its Former Existence and the Importance of Its Complete Disappearance
The Oldest Terrestrial Mineral Record: A Review of 4400 to 4000 Ma Detrital Zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia
Evidence of Pre-3100 Ma Crust in the Youanmi and South West Terranes, and Eastern Goldfields Superterrane, of the Yilgarn CratonEoarche an Gneiss Complexes
The Early Archean Acasta Gneiss Complex: Geological, Geochronological and Isotopic Studies and Implications for Early Crustal Evolution
Ancient Antarctica: The Archaean of the East Antarctic Shield
The Itsaq Gneiss Complex of Southern West Greenland and the Construction of Eoarchaean Crust at Convergent Plate Boundaries
The Geology of the 3.8 Ga Nuvvuagittuq (Porpoise Cove) Greenstone Belt, Northeastern SuperiorProvince,Canada
EoarcheanRocks andZircons in theNorthChinaCraton
TheNarryerTerrane,WesternAustralia:AReviewThe Paleoarchean Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
Paleoarchean Development of a Continental Nucleus: the East Pilbara Terrane of the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
The Oldest Well-Preserved Felsic Volcanic Rocks on Earth: Geochemical Clues to the Early Evolution of the Pilbara Supergroup and Implications for the Growth of a Paleoarchean Protocontinent
Geochemistry of Paleoarchean Granites of the East Pilbara Terrane, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: Implications for Early Archean Crustal Growth
Paleoarchean Mineral Deposits of the Pilbara Craton: Genesis, Tectonic Environment and Comparisons with Younger DepositsThe Paleoarchean Kaapvaal Craton, Southern Africa
An Overview of the Pre-Mesoarchean Rocks of the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa
The Ancient Gneiss Complex of Swaziland and Environs: Record of Early Archean Crustal Evolution inSouthernAfrica
An Overview of the Geology of the Barberton Greenstone Belt and Vicinity: Implications for EarlyCrustalDevelopment
Volcanology of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: Inflation and Evolution of Flow Fields
Silicified Basalts, Bedded Cherts and Other Sea Floor Alteration Phenomena of the 3.4 Ga Nondweni Greenstone Belt, South Africa
TTG Plutons of the Barberton Granitoid-Greenstone Terrain, South Africa
Metamorphism in the Barberton Granite Greenstone Terrain: A Record of Paleoarchean Accretion
Tectono-Metamorphic Controls on Archean Gold Mineralization in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: An Example from the New Consort Gold MinePaleoarchean Gneiss Terranes
Paleoarchean Gneisses in the Minnesota River Valley and Northern Michigan, USA
The Assean Lake Complex: Ancient Crust at the Northwestern Margin of the Superior Craton, Manitoba, Canada
Oldest Rocks of the Wyoming Craton
The Oldest Rock Assemblages of the Siberian CratonLife on Early Earth
Searching for Earth’s Earliest Life in Southern West Greenland – History, Current Status, and FutureProspects
A Review of the Evidence for Putative Paleoarchean Life in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
Stable Carbon and Sulfur Isotope Geochemistry of the ca. 3490 Ma Dresser Formation Hydrothermal Deposit, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
Organic Geochemistry of Archaean Carbonaceous Cherts from the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
Sulphur on the Early Earth
The Marine Carbonate and Chert Isotope Records and Their Implications for Tectonics, Life and Climate on the Early EarthTectonics on Early Earth
Venus: A Thin-Lithosphere Analog for Early Earth?
The Earliest Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle
Ancient to Modern Earth: The Role of Mantle Plumes in the Making of Continental Crust
Eo- to Mesoarchean Terranes of the Superior Province and Their Tectonic Context
Early Archean Asteroid Impacts on Earth: Stratigraphic and Isotopic Age Correlations and
Possible Geodynamic Consequences
Tectonics of Early EarthSubject Index