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. 2018 Oct 1;376(2132):20170403.
doi: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0403.

Rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust: implications for continental growth

Bruno Dhuime  1   2 , Chris J Hawkesworth  2   3 , Hélène Delavault  2   4 , Peter A Cawood  3   5
Affiliations

Rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust: implications for continental growth

Bruno Dhuime et al. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. .

Abstract

Less than 25% of the volume of the juvenile continental crust preserved today is older than 3 Ga, there are no known rocks older than approximately 4 Ga, and yet a number of recent models of continental growth suggest that at least 60-80% of the present volume of the continental crust had been generated by 3 Ga. Such models require that large volumes of pre-3 Ga crust were destroyed and replaced by younger crust since the late Archaean. To address this issue, we evaluate the influence on the rock record of changing the rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust at different times in Earth's history. We adopted a box model approach in a numerical model constrained by the estimated volumes of continental crust at 3 Ga and the present day, and by the distribution of crust formation ages in the present-day crust. The data generated by the model suggest that new continental crust was generated continuously, but with a marked decrease in the net growth rate at approximately 3 Ga resulting in a temporary reduction in the volume of continental crust at that time. Destruction rates increased dramatically around 3 billion years ago, which may be linked to the widespread development of subduction zones. The volume of continental crust may have exceeded its present value by the mid/late Proterozoic. In this model, about 2.6-2.3 times of the present volume of continental crust has been generated since Earth's formation, and approximately 1.6-1.3 times of this volume has been destroyed and recycled back into the mantle.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Earth dynamics and the development of plate tectonics'.

Keywords: continental crust; continental growth; crustal evolution; plate tectonics.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A selection of recent continental growth models (curves 1–4), which suggest that 60–80% of the present volume of continental crust was established by 3 Ga. These curves are in stark contrast with the cumulative distribution of crust formation ages in the crust preserved today (curves 5 and 6). The gap between curves 1–4 and curves 5–6 implies the destruction of large amounts of ancient continental crust (schematized by the dashed vertical arrows). The rates at which continental crust was destroyed and replaced by younger crust are explored in this contribution. References to curves: (1) Dhuime et al. [2], (2) Dhuime et al. [8], (3) Campbell [12], (4) Pujol et al. [13], (5) Condie & Aster [14], (6) Dhuime et al. [8].
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Variation in the εHf in zircon (primary Y-axis) and in the εNd in shales (secondary Y-axis) as a function of the crystallization age of the zircons (zircon data), or the deposition age of the sediments (shales data). The running median of the data calculated for every 100 Myr time slice is represented by the dots (zircon data) and diamonds (shales data). Zircon database (including zircons from both juvenile and reworked crust) from Roberts & Spencer [11] and shales database from Dhuime et al. [8].
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Schematic of the numerical box model used to evaluate the changes in the rates of crust generation and destruction through time. t1, t2, … , tn are the times at which new crustal segments of ages T1, T2, … ,Tn were generated. Vol. at tn: volume of continental crust established at tn. The present volume of continental crust targeted by the model is 7.2 × 109 km3 [38,41].
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Model 1 for the volume and rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust through time, estimated from the box model approach schematized in figure 3. (a) Cumulative curve for the present-day distribution of juvenile crust (brown curve, after [14]), which is the target of the model, and the modelled present age distribution (red squares). The grey box at 3 Ga represents the conditional starting parameter of the model, i.e. 60–80% of the present-day volume of continental crust established by 3 Ga [2,8,12,13]. (b) Rates of generation (blue curve), destruction (red curve) and net growth (green curve) of the continental crust, for every 500 Myr step of the model. The inset shows the smooth evolution of the mantle temperature through time, after Herzberg et al. [39] and Korenaga [40]. (c) Volumes of continental crust calculated for every 500 Myr step of the model (green curve), and estimated changes in the volumes of pre-3 Ga (purple curve) and post-3 Ga (orange curve) continental crust through time.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Model 2 for the volume and rates of generation and destruction of the continental crust through time, estimated from the box model approach schematized in figure 3. The curves are as for figure 4, with one exception as the targeted present-day age distribution curve (brown curve) is after Dhuime et al. [8].
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