Earth’s Oldest Rocks, Second Edition, is the only single reference source for geological research of early Earth. This new edition is an up-to-date collection of scientific articles on all aspects of the early history of the Earth, from planetary accretion at 4.567 billion years ago (Ga), to the onset of modern-style plate tectonics at 3.2 Ga. Since the first edition was published, significant new advances have been made in our understanding of events and processes on early Earth that correspond with new advances in technology. The book includes contributions from over 100 authors, all of whom are experts in their respective fields.
The research in this reference concentrates on what is directly gleaned from the existing rock record to understand how our planet formed and evolved during the planetary accretion phase, formation of the first crust, the changing dynamics of the mantle and style of tectonics, life’s foothold and early development, and mineral deposits. It is an ideal resource for academics, students and the general public alike.
Key Features
- Advances in early Earth research since 2007 based primarily on evidence gleaned directly from the rock record
- More than 50% of the chapters in this edition are new and the rest of the chapters are revised from the first edition, with more than 700 pages of new material
- Comprehensive reviews of areas of ancient lithosphere from all over the world, and of crust-forming processes
- New chapters on early solar system materials, composition of the ancient atmosphere-hydrosphere, and overviews of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, and modeling of early Earth tectonics
Preface: Aims, scope, and outline of the book
Martin Julian Van Kranendonk, Vickie Bennett and J. Elis Hoffmann
Section 1: Getting started
1. Early solar system materials, processes, and chronology
Yuri Amelin
2. Origin of the Earth and the Late Heavy Bombardment
Marc Norman
3. Early Earth atmosphere and oceans
James Kasting
Section 2: Overviews of Early Earth processes
4. Modelling early Earth tectonics: The case for stagnant lid behaviour in Early Earth
Craig O'Neill
5. The earliest subcontinental lithospheric mantle
Bill Griffin
6. Distribution and geochemistry of komatiites and basalts through the Archean
Stephen J. Barnes and Nick Arndt
7. The formation of tonalites-trondjhemites-granodiorites and of the early continental crust
J. Elis Hoffmann, Zhang, JF Moyen, and Nagel
8. Early Archean asteroid impacts on Earth: Stratigraphic and isotopic age correlations and possible geodynamic consequences
Alexandra Krull Davatzes and Steven Goderis
9. Palaeoarchean (3.6-3.2Ga) mineral systems in the context of continental crust building and the role of mantle plumes
Franco Pirajno and David L. Huston
10. Origin of Paleoarchean sulfate deposits
Pascal Philippot
Section 3: The most ancient remnants
11. Earth’s Oldest Rocks and Minerals
Kent Condie
12. The oldest terrestrial mineral record: Thirty years of research on Hadean zircon from Jack Hills, Western Australia
Aaron J. Cavosie
13. Evidence of Hadean to Paleoarchean crust in the Youanmi and Southwest terranes, and Eastern Goldfields Superterrane of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia
Stephen Wyche, Yongjun Lu and Michael T.D. Wingate
14. Hadean to Paleoarchean rocks and zircons in China
Yusheng Wan, Liu D, Xie H, Alfred Kröner, Wilde Alexander Simon, Dong Chunyan, Shoujie Liu, Shiwen Xie and Mingzhu Ma
15. The Acasta Gneiss Complex
Jesse R. Reimink
16. The Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt: A glimpse of Earth’s earliest crust
Jonathan O'Neil
17. The 3.9-3.6 Ga Itsaq Gneiss Complex of Greenland: Quasi-uniformitarian geodynamics towards the end of Earth’s first billion years
Allen Nutman
18. The Narryer Terrane, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia: review and recent developments
Tony Ivan Kemp
Section 4: Well-preserved granitoid-greenstone terrains
19. Paleoarchean development of a continental nucleus: the East Pilbara Terrane of the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
Martin Julian Van Kranendonk, R. Hugh Smithies and David C. Champion
20. The oldest well-preserved felsic volcanic rocks on Earth: Geochemical clues to the early evolution of the Pilbara Supergroup and implications for the growth of a Paleoarchean protocontinent
R. Hugh Smithies and Martin Julian Van Kranendonk
21. Geochemistry of Paleoarchean granites of the East Pilbara Terrane, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: implications for early Archean crustal growth
David C. Champion
22. Palaeoarchaean mineral deposits of the Pilbara Craton: genesis, tectonic environment and comparisons with younger deposits
David L. Huston and Franco Pirajno
23. Early Archean crustal evolution in southern Africa - an updated record of the Ancient Gneiss Complex of Swaziland
J. Elis Hoffmann and Alfred Kröner
24. Geology of the Barberton Greenstone Belt — A unique record of crustal development, surface processes, and early life 3.55 to 3.2 Ga
Gary R. Byerly, Donald R. Lowe and Christoph Heubeck
25. TTG plutons of the Barberton granitoid-greenstone terrain, southern Africa
JF Moyen
26. Tectono-metamorphic controls on Archaean gold mineralisation in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa: An example from the New Consort gold mine
Annika Dziggel
Section 5: Filling the gaps
27. Paleoarchean gneisses in the Minnesota River Valley and northern Michigan, USA
Marion Bickford
28. The Assean Lake Complex: Ancient crust at the northwestern margin of the Superior Craton, Manitoba, Canada
Christian O. Böhm
29. Oldest rocks of the Wyoming Craton
Kevin R. Chamberlain and Paul A. Mueller
30. Early crustal evolution as recorded in the granitoids of the Singhbhum and western Dharwar cratons, India
Sukanta Dey
31. Palaeoarchaean crustal evolution of the Bundelkhand Craton, north-central India
Lopamundra Saha
32. Paleoarchean rocks in the Fennoscandian Shield
Pentti Sakari Hölttä
33. Archean crustal evolution in the Ukrainian shield
Stefan Claesson, Gennadiy Vladimirovich Artemenko, ???????? V. Bogdanova and Leonid Shumlyanskyy
34. The Palaeoarchaean record of the Zimbabwe Craton
Axel Hofmann
35. Ancient Antarctica: The Archean of the East Antarctic Shield
Simon Harley
Section 6: Life
36. Implications of carbonate and chert isotope records for the early Earth
Graham A. Shields
37. Archean cherts: formation processes and paleo-environments
Morgane Marine Ledevin
38. The significance of carbonaceous matter to understanding life processes on early Earth
Mark Adriaan Van Zuilen
39. Eoarchean Life from the Isua supracrustal belt (Greenland)
Allen Nutman
40. Depositional setting of the fossiliferous, c. 3480 Ma Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton: A review
Martin Julian Van Kranendonk
41. Early Archean (pre-3.0 Ga) cellularly-preserved microfossils and microfossil-like structures from the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia — A review
Kenichiro Sugitani
42. Traces of early Life from the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa
Keyron Hickman-Lewis, Frances Westall and Barbara Cavalazzi
- Stoops, Marcelino and Flores, Interpretation of Micromorphological Features of Soils and Regoliths, Jul 2017, 9780444635228, $220.00
- Chetty, Proterozoic Orogens of India: A Critical Window to Gondwana, Sep 2017, 9780128044414, $80.95
- Van Krandendonk, Philippot and Mazumder, The Transition to Modern Earth: The Archean-Protozoic Boundary and the Evolution of Life and the Atmosphere, Jan 2018, 9780128020333, $200.00
Researchers and advanced undergraduate and graduate students in geology, Precambrian geology, tectonics, geochemistry and petrology, geochronology, and economic geology
