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Onset of the Earth's hydrological cycle four billion years ago or earlier

摘要:Widespread interaction between meteoric (fresh) water and emerged continental crust on the early Earth may have been key to the emergence of life, although when the hydrological cycle first started is poorly constrained. Here we use the oxygen isotopic composition of dated zircon crystals from the Jack Hills, Western Australia, to determine when the hydrological cycle commenced. The analysed zircon grains reveal two periods of magmatism at 4.0-3.9 and 3.5-3.4 billion years ago characterized by oxygen isotopic compositions below mantle values (that is,O-18/O-16 ratios <5.3 +/- 0.6 parts per thousand relative to Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (2 s.d)). The most negative O-18/O-16 ratios at around 4.0 and 3.4 billion years ago are as low as 2.0 parts per thousand and -0.1 parts per thousand, respectively. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that such isotopically light values in zircon require the interaction of shallow crustal magmatic systems with meteoric water, which must have commenced at or before 4.0 billion years ago, contemporaneous with the oldest surviving remnant of Earth's continental crust. The emergence of continental crust, the presence of fresh water and the start of the hydrological cycle probably facilitated the development of the environmental niches required for life fewer than 600 million years after Earth's formation.

ISSN号:1752-0894

卷、期、页:卷17期6

发表日期:2024-06-03

影响因子:0.000000

期刊分区(SCI为中科院分区):一区

收录情况:SCIE(科学引文索引网络版),地学领域高质量科技期刊分级目录(国外T1)

发表期刊名称:NATURE GEOSCIENCE

参与作者:Gamaleldien, Hamed,Wu, Li-Guang,Olierook, Hugo K. H.,Kirkland, Christopher L.,Kirscher, Uwe,Li, Zheng-Xiang,Johnson, Tim E.,Makin, Sean,Li, Qiu-Li,Wilde, Simon A.,Li, Xian-Hua

第一作者:江强

论文类型:期刊论文

论文概要:Gamaleldien, Hamed,Wu, Li-Guang,Olierook, Hugo K. H.,Kirkland, Christopher L.,Kirscher, Uwe,Li, Zheng-Xiang,Johnson, Tim E.,Makin, Sean,Li, Qiu-Li,江强,Wilde, Simon A.,Li, Xian-Hua,Onset of the Earth's hydrological cycle four billion years ago or earlier,NATURE GEOSCIENCE,2024,卷17期6

论文题目:Onset of the Earth's hydrological cycle four billion years ago or earlier

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