3.3 billion-year-old crystals reveal a shockingly active early Earth

For many years, researchers believed that Earth remained in a "stagnant lid" state until at least the end of the Hadean. According to this idea, the planet was capped by a stiff, unmoving outer shell while heat-driven convection took place deeper in the mantle. In this scenario, the early planet lacked subduction (the process in which crust sinks into the interior) and did not yet produce the continental crust seen in today's plate tectonic system.

A New Challenge to the Stagnant Lid Hypothesis

Now, scientists from the ERC Synergy Grant Project "Monitoring Earth Evolution through Time" (MEET) -- a collaboration between geochemists from Grenoble (France) and Madison (USA), and geodynamic modelers from GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (Germany) -- are offering a different interpretation.

Ancient Crystals Reveal Evidence of Early Subduction

In a study published in Nature Communications, the MEET research team reports evidence that both subduction and continental crust formation were not only active during the Hadean but may have been more intense than previously assumed. The Grenoble group analyzed strontium isotopes and trace elements in melt inclusions trapped inside 3.3-billion-year-old olivine crystals, providing rare geochemical snapshots of early Earth. At the same time, the GFZ group applied advanced geodynamic models to understand how these geochemical patterns relate to ancient tectonic activity.

Their combined results point to a far livelier early Earth, suggesting that widespread subduction and the growth of continental crust may have begun several hundred million years earlier than earlier theories proposed.

Glossary of Key Terms

Hadean Eon: The earliest chapter of Earth's history (4.6 to 4.0 billion years ago), beginning with the planet's formation and characterized by extreme heat and frequent impacts.

Subduction: A tectonic process in which one piece of Earth's crust sinks beneath another and moves downward into the mantle.

Stagnant lid: A tectonic state where the planet's outer shell is rigid and unmoving, with very little surface recycling compared to modern plate tectonics.

Mantle convection: The slow, heat-driven movement of material within Earth's mantle that transports energy from the interior toward the surface.

Continental crust: The thick, buoyant type of crust that forms Earth's continents, distinct from the thinner oceanic crust.

Melt inclusions: Tiny pockets of trapped molten material found inside crystals, preserving chemical information about the environment in which the crystals formed.

Olivine crystals: Greenish mineral grains commonly found in Earth's mantle and volcanic rocks; they can preserve ancient geochemical clues.

Strontium isotopes: Different forms of the element strontium used by scientists to determine the origin and history of rocks and magmas.

Geodynamic simulations: Computer models that recreate how Earth's interior moves and evolves over time.

Crustal solidification: The process by which Earth's once-molten surface cooled and hardened into a solid crust.