Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago

No crustal rocks are known to have survived since the time of the intense meteor bombardment that affected Earth between its formation about 4,550 Myr ago and 4,030 Myr, the age of the oldest known components in the Acasta Gneiss of northwestern Canada. But evidence of an even older crust is provided by detrital zircons in metamorphosed sediments at Mt Narryer and Jack Hills in the Narryer Gneiss Terrane, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, where grains as old as approximately 4,276 Myr have been found. Here we report, based on a detailed micro-analytical study of Jack Hills zircons, the discovery of a detrital zircon with an age as old as 4,404+/-8 Myr--about 130 million years older than any previously identified on Earth. We found that the zircon is zoned with respect to rare earth elements and oxygen isotope ratios (delta18O values from 7.4 to 5.0%), indicating that it formed from an evolving magmatic source. The evolved chemistry, high delta18O value and micro-inclusions of SiO2 are consistent with growth from a granitic melt with a delta18O value from 8.5 to 9.5%. Magmatic oxygen isotope ratios in this range point toward the involvement of supracrustal material that has undergone low-temperature interaction with a liquid hydrosphere. This zircon thus represents the earliest evidence for continental crust and oceans on the Earth.     

Boron and oxygen isotope evidence for recycling of subducted components over the past 2.5 Gyr

Evidence for the deep recycling of surficial materials through the Earth's mantle and their antiquity has long been sought to understand the role of subducting plates and plumes in mantle convection. Radiogenic isotope evidence for such recycling remains equivocal because the age and location of parent-daughter fractionation are not known. Conversely, while stable isotopes can provide irrefutable evidence for low-temperature fractionation, their range in most unaltered oceanic basalts is limited and the age of any variation is unconstrained. Here we show that delta(18)O ratios in basalts from the Azores are often lower than in pristine mantle. This, combined with increased Nb/B ratios and a large range in delta(11)B ratios, provides compelling evidence for the recycling of materials that had undergone fractionation near the Earth's surface. Moreover, delta(11)B is negatively correlated with (187)Os/(188)Os ratios, which extend to subchondritic values, constraining the age of the high Nb/B, (11)B-enriched endmember to be more than 2.5 billion years (Gyr) old. We infer this component to be melt- and fluid-depleted lithospheric mantle from a subducted oceanic plate, whereas other Azores basalts contain a contribution from approximately 3-Gyr-old melt-enriched basalt. We conclude that both components are most probably derived from an Archaean oceanic plate that was subducted, arguably into the deep mantle, where it was stored until thermal buoyancy caused it to rise beneath the Azores islands approximately 3 Gyr later.     

Hf-Nd isotope evidence for a transient dynamic regime in the early terrestrial mantle

Modern basalts have seemingly lost all 'memory' of the primitive Earth's mantle except for an ambiguous isotopic signal observed in some rare gases. Although the Earth is expected to have reached a thermal steady state within several hundred million years of accretion, it is not known how and when the initial chemical fractionations left over from planetary accretion (and perhaps a stage involving a magma ocean) were overshadowed by fractionations imposed by modern-style geodynamics. Because of the lack of samples older than 4 Gyr, this early dynamic regime of the Earth is poorly understood. Here we compare published Hf-Nd isotope data on supracrustals from Isua, Greenland, with similar data on lunar rocks and the SNC (martian) meteorites, and show that, about 3.8 Gyr ago, the geochemical signature of the Archaean mantle was partly inherited from the initial differentiation of the Earth. The observed features seem to indicate that the planet at that time was still losing a substantial amount of primordial heat. The survival of remnants from an early layering in the modern deep mantle may account for some unexplained seismological, thermal and geochemical characteristics of the Earth as observed today.     

Carbon isotope evidence for the stepwise oxidation of the Proterozoic environment

The oxidation of the Earth's crust and the increase in atmospheric oxygen early in Earth history have been linked to the accumulation of reduced carbon in sedimentary rocks. Trends in the carbon isotope composition of sedimentary organic carbon and carbonate show that during the Proterozoic aeon (2.5-0.54 Gyr ago) the organic carbon reservoir grew in size, relative to the carbonate reservoir. This increase, and the concomitant release of oxidizing power in the environment, occurred mostly during episodes of global rifting and orogeny.     

Lithium isotope evidence for subduction-enriched mantle in the source of mid-ocean-ridge basalts

'Recycled' crustal materials, returned from the Earth's surface to the mantle by subduction, have long been invoked to explain compositional heterogeneity in the upper mantle. Yet increasingly, problems have been noted with this model. The debate can be definitively addressed using stable isotope ratios, which should only significantly vary in primitive, mantle-derived materials as a consequence of recycling. Here we present data showing a notable range in lithium isotope ratios in basalts from the East Pacific Rise, which correlate with traditional indices of mantle heterogeneity (for example, 143Nd/144Nd ratios). Such co-variations of stable and radiogenic isotopes in melts from a normal ridge segment provide critical evidence for the importance of recycled material in generating chemical heterogeneity in the upper mantle. Contrary to many models, however, the elevated lithium isotope ratios of the 'enriched' East Pacific Rise lavas imply that subducted ocean crust is not the agent of enrichment. Instead, we suggest that fluid-modified mantle, which is enriched during residency in a subduction zone, is mixed back into the upper mantle to cause compositional variability.     

Triple oxygen isotope evidence for elevated CO2 levels after a Neoproterozoic glaciation

Understanding the composition of the atmosphere over geological time is critical to understanding the history of the Earth system, as the atmosphere is closely linked to the lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Although much of the history of the lithosphere and hydrosphere is contained in rock and mineral records, corresponding information about the atmosphere is scarce and elusive owing to the lack of direct records. Geologists have used sedimentary minerals, fossils and geochemical models to place constraints on the concentrations of carbon dioxide, oxygen or methane in the past. Here we show that the triple oxygen isotope composition of sulphate from ancient evaporites and barites shows variable negative oxygen-17 isotope anomalies over the past 750 million years. We propose that these anomalies track those of atmospheric oxygen and in turn reflect the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (P(CO2)) in the past through a photochemical reaction network linking stratospheric ozone to carbon dioxide and to oxygen. Our results suggest that P(CO2) was much higher in the early Cambrian than in younger eras, agreeing with previous modelling results. We also find that the (17)O isotope anomalies of barites from Marinoan (approximately 635 million years ago) cap carbonates display a distinct negative spike (around -0.70 per thousand), suggesting that by the time barite was precipitating in the immediate aftermath of a Neoproterozoic global glaciation, the P(CO2) was at its highest level in the past 750 million years. Our finding is consistent with the 'snowball Earth' hypothesis and/or a massive methane release after the Marinoan glaciation.     

Oxygen-isotope evidence from ancient zircons for liquid water at the Earth's surface 4,300 Myr ago

Granitoid gneisses and supracrustal rocks that are 3,800-4,000 Myr old are the oldest recognized exposures of continental crust. To obtain insight into conditions at the Earth's surface more than 4 Gyr ago requires the analysis of yet older rocks or their mineral remnants. Such an opportunity is presented by detrital zircons more than 4 Gyr old found within 3-Gyr-old quartzitic rocks in the Murchison District of Western Australia. Here we report in situ U-Pb and oxygen isotope results for such zircons that place constraints on the age and composition of their sources and may therefore provide information about the nature of the Earth's early surface. We find that 3,910-4,280 Myr old zircons have oxygen isotope (delta18O) values ranging from 5.4+/-0.6% to 15.0+/-0.4%. On the basis of these results, we postulate that the approximately 4,300-Myr-old zircons formed from magmas containing a significant component of re-worked continental crust that formed in the presence of water near the Earth's surface. These data are therefore consistent with the presence of a hydrosphere interacting with the crust by 4,300 Myr ago.     

Mg isotope evidence for contemporaneous formation of chondrules and refractory inclusions

Primitive or undifferentiated meteorites (chondrites) date back to the origin of the Solar System, and thus preserve a record of the physical and chemical processes that occurred during the earliest evolution of the accretion disk surrounding the young Sun. The oldest Solar System materials present within these meteorites are millimetre- to centimetre-sized calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) and ferromagnesian silicate spherules (chondrules), which probably originated by thermal processing of pre-existing nebula solids. Chondrules are currently believed to have formed approximately 2-3 million years (Myr) after CAIs (refs 5-10)--a timescale inconsistent with the dynamical lifespan of small particles in the early Solar System. Here, we report the presence of excess (26)Mg resulting from in situ decay of the short-lived (26)Al nuclide in CAIs and chondrules from the Allende meteorite. Six CAIs define an isochron corresponding to an initial (26)Al/(27)Al ratio of (5.25 +/- 0.10) x 10(-5), and individual model ages with uncertainties as low as +/- 30,000 years, suggesting that these objects possibly formed over a period as short as 50,000 years. In contrast, the chondrules record a range of initial (26)Al/(27)Al ratios from (5.66 +/- 0.80) to (1.36 +/- 0.52) x 10(-5), indicating that Allende chondrule formation began contemporaneously with the formation of CAIs, and continued for at least 1.4 Myr. Chondrule formation processes recorded by Allende and other chondrites may have persisted for at least 2-3 Myr in the young Solar System.     

生物聚合物通过纳米孔时螺旋卷曲两态转换的随机动力学研究?

通过建立两态模型,依据Kramers理论,研究了生物聚合物多聚腺苷酸poly(A)在通过纳米孔时螺旋-卷曲(Helix-Coil)两态转换.结果表明:Helix-Coil两态转换的特征时间与能量位垒呈现指数关系τ~eΔG/kBT.同时发现了poly(A)两态的特征时间随温度、电压、外力的变化关系.本研究有助于理解生物聚合物通过纳米孔时的动力学行为.     

The record of cultivated rice from archaeobiological evidence in northwestern China 5000 years ago

Pollen, plant seeds and phytoliths from an AMS dated sediment profile at the Xishanping site indicate that the cultivation of rice might start no later than 5070 cal. a BP in the region of Tianshui, Gansu Province. It continued from 5070 to 4300 cal. a BP. This is so far the oldest and the most northwestern record of cultivated rice in Neolithic China, which extends the known region of prehistoric rice cultivation at least 2° longitude to the west. This finding provides important evidence for reconstructing the cultivation region of rice at 5000 a BP （an important time period）, and its spreading history in East Asia, during the Neolithic.     

Tungsten isotope evidence from approximately 3.8-Gyr metamorphosed sediments for early meteorite bombardment of the Earth

The 'Late Heavy Bombardment' was a phase in the impact history of the Moon that occurred 3.8 4.0 Gyr ago, when the lunar basins with known dates were formed. But no record of this event has yet been reported from the few surviving rocks of this age on the Earth. Here we report tungsten isotope anomalies, based on the (182)Hf (182)W system (half-life of 9 Myr), in metamorphosed sedimentary rocks from the 3.7 3.8-Gyr-old Isua greenstone belt of West Greenland and closely related rocks from northern Labrador, Canada. As it is difficult to conceive of a mechanism by which tungsten isotope heterogeneities could have been preserved in the Earth's dynamic crust mantle environment from a time when short-lived (182)Hf was still present, we conclude that the metamorphosed sediments contain a component derived from meteorites.     

Discovery of seep carbonate nodules as new evidence for gas venting on the northern continental slope of South China Sea

The geotectonic evolution of the northern South China Sea (SCS) is controlled by the Eurasian, the Pa-cific and the Indian-Australian Plates. With regard to its tectonic evolution, the northern margin composed of faulted terraces and basins and deposited …     

Hf-W-Th evidence for rapid growth of Mars and its status as a planetary embryo

Terrestrial planets are thought to have formed through collisions between large planetary embryos of diameter ～1,000-5,000?km. For Earth, the last of these collisions involved an impact by a Mars-size embryo that formed the Moon 50-150?million years (Myr) after the birth of the Solar System. Although model simulations of the growth of terrestrial planets can reproduce the mass and dynamical parameters of the Earth and Venus, they fall short of explaining the small size of Mars. One possibility is that Mars was a planetary embryo that escaped collision and merging with other embryos. To assess this idea, it is crucial to know Mars' accretion timescale, which can be investigated using the (182)Hf-(182)W decay system in shergottite-nakhlite-chassignite meteorites. Nevertheless, this timescale remains poorly constrained owing to a large uncertainty associated with the Hf/W ratio of the Martian mantle and as a result, contradicting timescales have been reported that range between 0 and 15?Myr (refs 6-10). Here we show that Mars accreted very rapidly and reached about half of its present size in only 1.8(+0.9)(-1.0) Myr or less, which is consistent with a stranded planetary embryo origin. We have found a well-defined correlation between the Th/Hf and (176)Hf/(177)Hf ratios in chondrites that reflects remobilization of Lu and Th during parent-body processes. Using this relationship, we estimate the Hf/W ratio in Mars' mantle to be 3.51?±?0.45. This value is much more precise than previous estimates, which ranged between 2.6 and 5.0 (ref. 6), and lifts the large uncertainty that plagued previous estimates of the age of Mars. Our results also demonstrate that Mars grew before dissipation of the nebular gas when ～100-km planetesimals, such as the parent bodies of chondrites, were still being formed. Mars' accretion occurred early enough to allow establishment of a magma ocean powered by decay of (26)Al.     

合金纳米粒子生长形态的分子动力学模拟

选用Cu–Ag纳米粒子作为研究对象,采用分子动力学方法和嵌入原子模型模拟了将Cu原子注入到由Ag原子构成的纳米粒子的过程,研究了注入能量(10,30,50 e V)与纳米粒子结构的关系。采用共近邻分析技术对合金纳米的结构演变进行了研究。模拟结果表明:当入射原子动能为50 e V时,合金纳米粒子从截角八面体转变为二十面体结构。这种转变是因为入射原子与基底原子碰撞,促使系统温度升高。     

在冲击波纳秒加载过程中水的结晶相变及其动力学现象

在一级轻气炮加载实验中,利用光透射测量技术在线观测了水在多次冲击下发生结晶相变的动力学过程.实验研究表明:当水被压缩到液-固相边界附近,在界面效应的作用下,处于亚稳状态的水迅速局部结晶成核,并且在数十个纳秒内达到对入射光产生散射效应的尺度.固相体积分数随压力递增而增加,当样品中的压力达到平衡时结晶速率逐渐变缓.     

南海北部陆坡NH-1孔沉积物中碳酸盐碳同位素特征及其地球化学意义

源于深部天然气藏渗漏或天然气水合物分解释放的甲烷,可导致海洋沉积物中生成δ13C明显负偏的碳酸盐矿物.对NH-1孔沉积物样品的碳酸盐含量、全岩碳酸盐及生物碳酸盐δ13C、有机碳含量等参数进行了分析.结果表明:沉积物中碳酸盐含量较高(平均6.90%);全岩碳酸盐δ13C(-6.09‰～-0.48‰)与正常海相碳酸盐相比明显负偏;浮游有孔虫(G.rube)壳体碳酸盐δ13C(-0.834‰～0.004‰)明显低于正常值.结合海域的地质特点,认为这很可能是沉积物中较高甲烷通量背景条件下自生碳酸盐的形成所导致的.有机碳、氮数据与全岩碳酸盐δ13C的相关性分析指示了有机质也可能是全岩碳酸盐δ13C偏低的根源之一.因此,NH-1孔碳酸盐碳同位素特征是较高甲烷通量背景下甲烷缺氧氧化-硫酸盐还原及有机质缺氧氧化-硫酸盐还原等地球化学过程的综合反映.全岩碳酸盐δ13C含量可用于指示沉积物中自生碳酸盐矿物及较高甲烷通量的存在.     

储层石英生长影响因素的实验证据

设计不同盐度、不同油水比及不同油品的人工合成石英烃类包裹体的实验,考察不同成岩条件下油气充注对石英生长的影响,对合成烃类包裹体的岩相学特征、均一温度、荧光测试结果进行分析,讨论油水比、油品性质、盐度等因素对石英生长的影响.结果表明:含油气条件下石英晶体能够继续生长从而捕获烃类包裹体,但是也受到了一定抑制,抑制作用随着含油饱和度增高而增强;油气可能会完全终止矿物的生长,但边界条件还有待于进一步确定;较高的盐度促进了石英包裹体的形成,轻质油对石英晶体生长的抑制作用要相对大于重质油的抑制作用.     

New evidence that growth in 3T3 cell cultures is a diffusion-limited process

When a confluent culture of 3T3 cells is wounded, new growth occurs at the wound margins. This indicates that the suppression of growth in the intact confluent sheet is under local control, a phenomenon known as 'topoinhibition', and it has been suggested that intercellular contact is responsible. An alternative explanation for topoinhibition is possible, however, namely that a soluble factor necessary for growth is locally depleted from the medium by cells so that each cell in a confluent sheet normally receives an insufficient supply and its growth is inhibited. Here we show that the pattern of release from topoinhibition in a wounded culture can be distorted simply by inducing a gentle laminar flow of medium across the wound. Growth remains suppressed at the upstream margin of the wound despite the reduced level of intercellular contact at wound edges. We conclude that the signal for topoinhibition is carried by the flow as would be predicted if it were the local depletion of growth factor.     

Active foundering of a continental arc root beneath the southern Sierra Nevada in California

Seismic data provide images of crust-mantle interactions during ongoing removal of the dense batholithic root beneath the southern Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The removal appears to have initiated between 10 and 3 Myr ago with a Rayleigh-Taylor-type instability, but with a pronounced asymmetric flow into a mantle downwelling (drip) beneath the adjacent Great Valley. A nearly horizontal shear zone accommodated the detachment of the ultramafic root from its granitoid batholith. With continuing flow into the mantle drip, viscous drag at the base of the remaining approximately 35-km-thick crust has thickened the crust by approximately 7 km in a narrow welt beneath the western flank of the range. Adjacent to the welt and at the top of the drip, a V-shaped cone of crust is being dragged down tens of kilometres into the core of the mantle drip, causing the disappearance of the Moho in the seismic images. Viscous coupling between the crust and mantle is therefore apparently driving present-day surface subsidence.