Evidence for Hadean mafic intrusions in the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, Canada

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sole, C.; O'Neil, J.; Rizo, H.; Paquette, J. -L; Benn, D.; Plakholm, J.
• 署名单位: University of Ottawa; Carleton University; University of Ottawa; Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite Clermont Auvergne (UCA)
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-10703
• DOI: 10.1126/science.ads8461
• 发表日期: 2025-06-26
• 页码: 1431-1435
• 关键词: plasma-mass spectrometry; u-th-pb; supracrustal belt; detrital zircons; hf isotopes; lu-hf; rocks; EVOLUTION; nd; systematics

摘要

Many questions remain regarding Earth's earliest crust owing to the rarity of Hadean (>4.03 billion-year-old) rocks and minerals. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt (NGB) in Canada may be the only known remnant of Hadean crust, although its age is debated, ranging from >= 3.75 to 4.3 billion years old. Mafic intrusions within this belt were specifically sampled and analyzed to investigate the timing of their magmatic differentiation. Correlations between samarium/neodymium (Sm/Nd) and Nd-143/Nd-144 and Nd-142/Nd-144 ratios correspond to ages of 4157 +/- 174 and 4196(-81)(+53 )million years for the long-lived Sm-147-Nd-143 and the short-lived Sm-146-Nd-142 systems, respectively. The age agreement between both extant and extinct radiogenic systems, in rocks related through igneous fractionation, is compelling evidence for preservation of Hadean rocks in the NGB, opening a rare window into Earth's earliest times.