Greenstone burial–exhumation cycles at the late Archean transition to plate tectonics

Ivan, Zibra; Anthony I S, Kemp; R Hugh, Smithies; Rubatto, Daniela; Fawna, Korhonen; Johannes, Hammerli; Tim E, Johnson; Klaus, Gessner; Roberto F, Weinberg; Jeff D, Vervoort; Laure, Martin; Sandra S, Romano (2022). Greenstone burial–exhumation cycles at the late Archean transition to plate tectonics. Nature Communications, 13(1) Springer Nature 10.1038/s41467-022-35208-2

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Converging lines of evidence suggest that, during the late Archean, Earth completed its transition from a stagnant-lid to a plate tectonics regime,although how and when this transition occurred is debated. The geological record indicates that some form of subduction, a key component of plate tectonics—has operated since the Mesoarchean, even though the tectonic style and timescales of burial and exhumation cycles within ancient convergent margins are poorly constrained.Here, we present a Neoarchean pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) path from supracrustal rocks of the transpressional Yilgarn orogen (Western Australia), which documents how sea-floor-altered rocks underwent deep burial then exhumation during shortening that was unrelated to the episode of burial. Archean subduction, even if generally short-lived, was capable of producing eclogites along converging lithosphere boundaries, although exhumation processes in those environments were likely less efficient than today, such that return of high-pressure rocks to the surface was rare.

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