An impact melt origin for Earth’s oldest known evolved rocks

Tim E. Johnson*, Nicholas J. Gardiner, Katarina Miljković, Christopher J. Spencer, Christopher L. Kirkland, Phil A. Bland, Hugh Smithies

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Earth’s oldest evolved (felsic) rocks, the 4.02-billion-year-old Idiwhaa gneisses of the Acasta Gneiss Complex, northwest Canada, have compositions that are distinct from the felsic rocks that typify Earth’s ancient continental nuclei, implying that they formed through a different process. Using phase equilibria and trace element modelling, we show that the Idiwhaa gneisses were produced by partial melting of iron-rich hydrated basaltic rocks (amphibolites) at very low pressures, equating to the uppermost ~3 km of a Hadean crust that was dominantly mafic in composition. The heat required for partial melting at such shallow levels is most easily explained through meteorite impacts. Hydrodynamic impact modelling shows not only that this scenario is physically plausible, but also that the region of shallow partial melting appropriate to formation of the Idiwhaa gneisses would have been widespread. Given the predicted high flux of meteorites in the late Hadean, impact melting may have been the predominant mechanism that generated Hadean felsic rocks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)795-799
Number of pages5
JournalNature Geoscience
Volume11
Issue number10
Early online date13 Aug 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2018

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