Geology

doi: 10.1130/G34886.1
published online 6 January 2014; Geology

Simon Turner, Tracy Rushmer, Mark Reagan and Jean-Francois Moyen

Heading down early on? Start of subduction on Earth

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as doi:10.1130/G34886.1 Geology, published online on 6 January 2014 as doi:10.1130/G34886.1 Geology, published online on 6 January 2014
GEOLOGY
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INTRODUCTION
The time of initiation of convergent plate
interaction on Earth is perhaps one of the most
fundamental questions about our planets history.
Plate tectonics is the major mechanism of heat
loss from Earths interior, and the tectonic plates
are the controlling interface between surface
and deep-Earth processes. Plate tectonics also is
a process that currently appears to be unique to
Earth with respect to the other planets in the solar
system, and has directly affected the composition
and rate of formation of continental crust. This in
turn, through a variety of feedback mechanisms,
affects the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and bio-
sphere. In many ways, the initiation of subduc-
tion started the clock ticking on processes that
produced the Earth we know today and the envi-
ronment on which we are dependent.
Numerous studies have utilized isotopic
systems in both whole rocks and detrital miner-
als to investigate the geodynamics of the early
Earth. For example, several groups have used
the compositions of Hadean detrital zircons
from the Jack Hills in Australia to argue that
the crust of the early Earth was not so different
from today (e.g., Mojzsis et al., 2001; Wilde et
al., 2001; Harrison, 2009), whereas others have
suggested that the early crust was more basaltic
(e.g., Kemp et al., 2010). Some data sets have
been further used to infer that subduction did
not commence until 3 Ga (e.g., Dhuime et al.,
2012) or even much later (Stern, 2005). Unfor-
tunately, old rocks are rare and detrital minerals
lack important geological context. Numerical
simulations have also been conducted to ap-
praise convection in the early Earth, although
the presence or absence of subduction is often a
prescribed boundary condition that renders their
conclusions somewhat equivocal with regard to
whether plate tectonics would have been operat-
ing (e.g., Davies, 1992; Korenaga, 2006; Gerya,
2012). These discrepancies testify, as much as
anything else, to the need for a new approach.
EARTHS OLD ROCKS
On a global basis, there are some long noted
and intriguing similarities between (nonkomati-
itic) Archean mac rocks and those found at pres-
ent-day subduction zones. For uid-immobile
elements, these include elevated concentrations
of Th and Zr relative to Nb, Ti, and Yb (Fig. 1),
effectively the negative Nb and Ti anomalies
that are characteristic of arc lavas and continen-
tal crust in general. There are also differences
between the geochemical patterns of modern
and Archean mac rocks. For example, whereas
modern mac rocks show a clearly bimodal dis-
tribution between arc and nonarc settings, the Ar-
chean mac rocks spread across these two elds
in Figure 1 (Moyen, 2013). Thus, geochemists
have been appropriately prudent in assigning in-
dividual geochemical signatures to tectonic set-
tings for Archean rocks (see Pearce, 2008).
ONeil et al. (2011, 2012) reported on
the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt in northern
Quebec, Canada, that contains a sequence of
mac lavas and ultramac intrusions that have
overlapping
142
Nd and
143
Nd isotope ages of 4.4
4.3 Ga that they argued to be the age of magma
generation. Thus, the mac lavas could be only
~150250 m.y. younger than Earth, and erupted
contemporaneously with the formation of the lu-
nar crust shortly after the Moon-forming impact.
An alternative explanation based on isotope and
geochronologic data is that the Nuvvuagittuq
lavas were generated ca. 3.8 Ga, and that the
variations in
142
Nd isotopic compositions were
inherited from primordial differ entiation of the
Earths mantle (e.g., Roth et al., 2013; Guit-
reau et al., 2013). What is not in dispute is that
the deviations in
142
Nd/
144
Nd ratios (expressed
as
142
Nd) from that assumed for bulk silicate
Earth found in the mac Nuvvuagittuq rocks
must result from processes that occurred within
~250 m.y. of the formation of Earth. However,
the ongoing debate about the true age of the
Nuvvuagittuq rocks (see Cates et al., 2013) has
*E-mails: simon.turner@mq.edu.au; tracy.rushmer
@mq.edu.au; mark-reagan@uiowa.edu; Jean-francois
.moyen@univ-st-etienne.fr.
Heading down early on? Start of subduction on Earth
Simon Turner
1*
, Tracy Rushmer
1*
, Mark Reagan
2*
, and Jean-Francois Moyen
3*
1
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
2
Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
3
UMR 6524 CNRS and Universite Jean-Monnet, 23 rue du Dr Michelon, Saint-Etienne, France
GEOLOGY, February 2014; v. 42; no. 2; p. 14
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doi:10.1130/G34886.1
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Published online XX Month 2013
2013 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or editing@geosociety.org.
ABSTRACT
How the Earths earliest crust was formed and when present-day plate tectonics (i.e.,
subduction) and life commenced remain fundamental questions in Earth sciences. Whereas
the bulk composition of the crust is similar to that of rocks generated in subduction settings, it
does not necessarily follow that melting and crust formation require subduction. Many work-
ers suggest that subduction may have only commenced toward the end of the Archean or
later. Here we observe that both the stratigraphy and geochemistry of rocks found in Quebec,
Canada, that have been variously argued to be 4.4 or 3.8 Ga in age, closely match those from
the modern-day Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc. We suggest that this geochemical stratigraphy
might provide a more robust test of ancient tectonic setting than individual chemical or iso-
topic signatures in rocks or detrital minerals. If correct, the match suggests that at least some
form of subduction may have been operating as early as the Hadean or Eoarchean. This could
have provided an ideal location for the development of rst life.
Figure 1. Trace element discrimination dia-
grams showing comparison of modern arc
basalts (red cloud) and mid-oceanic ridge
basalts (MORB, blue cloud), nonkomati-
itic Archean basalts from GEOROC (green
diamonds; Geochemistry of Rocks of the
Oceans and Continents; http://georoc.mpch-
mainz.gwdg.de/georoc/), and mac rocks
from proto Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc (black
circles) and Nuvvuagittuq (Quebec, Canada)
supracrustal belt (white squares). Samples
with SiO
2
> 55 wt% are shown in gray. A:
Th/Yb versus Nb/Yb diagram from Pearce
(2008). B: Ti (ppm) versus Zr diagram from
Pearce and Cann (1973). Field A is island
arc tholeiite (IAT); eld B is MORB; eld C is
calc-alkaline basalt (CAB); eld D is ambigu-
ous (intersection of previous three elds).
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GEOLOGY
overshadowed other important observations,
including the conspicuous similarity between
sequences in the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt
and those found in the forearc crust of modern
oceanic island arcs (Fig. 2).
INITIATION OF A MODERN
SUBDUCTION ZONE
The initiation of modern-day subduction
has long been thought to be marked by eruption
of distinctive lavas, called boninites, which are
characterized by depletion in relatively compat-
ible elements such as Ti. However, recent sub-
mersible exploration in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana
forearc (Reagan et al., 2010; Ishizuka et al.,
2011) found that the lowermost rocks are actually
similar to mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORBs).
These are overlain successively by boninites as-
sociated with hydrothermal Fe-oxide and sulde
deposits (Ishizuka et al., 2008) and then by rocks
of arc tholeiitic and calc-alkaline afnity that are
typical of modern subduction systems (Fig. 2).
They are underlain successively by diabase, gab-
bro, and peridotite. The basalts are interpreted to
represent decompression melts associated with
forearc spreading caused by initial subduction
of the Pacic plate. Fluids released during early
subduction uxed the depleted mantle residue,
generating the subsequent boninitic lavas and fa-
cilitating the formation of hydrothermal deposits.
Then, as fully-edged subduction developed,
fresh mantle was brought into the region by in-
duced convection in the wedge and uid-uxed
melting of this material produced typical calc-
alkaline arc magmas. The key outcome is that
subduction initiation can now be identied by
a geochemical stratigraphy (Stern et al., 2012),
rather than the occurrence of one single lava type
(e.g., boninites) or a selected trace element signa-
ture (such as negative Nb anomalies).
MORE THAN COINCIDENCE?
The crustal sections of many ophiolites
are akin to the Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc crust,
suggesting that early arc sequences have been
incorporated into continental collision zones
extending back through the Neoproterozoic and
perhaps into the Archean (Dilek and Furnes,
2011). Moreover, as shown in Figure 2, careful
mapping (ONeil et al., 2007; J. ONeil, 2013,
personal commun.) has established that the
Nuvvuagittuq stratigraphy consists of high-Ti
tholeiites (with
142
Nd values ranging from posi-
tive to negative) overlain by a thin banded iron
formation and then low-Ti, depleted and then
enriched rocks, both with
142
Nd values ranging
from negative to bulk silicate Earth (ONeil et
al., 2011, 2012). The high-Ti tholeiites have at
rare earth element (REE) and high eld strength
element (HFSE) patterns that typify basalts
generated from a relatively undepleted mantle.
In contrast, the overlying low-Ti mac rocks
have high MgO and SiO
2
, are highly depleted
in REEs and HFSEs, and have concave-upward
REE patterns that are typical of boninites gener-
ated from previously depleted mantle. The ex-
halative banded iron formation deposits within
the Nuvvuagittuq stratigraphy (see Mloszewska
et al., 2012) are equivalent in origin and simi-
lar in stratigraphic position to the hydrothermal
deposits on Chichijima Island (Ishizuka et al.,
2008). In both cases, they could represent hy-
drothermal activity associated with early exten-
sion, and perhaps the rst introduction of sub-
ducted uids (those associated with generation
of the low-Ti lavas). Overlying these are low-Ti
enriched rocks characterized by enrichments
in uid mobile, large ion lithophile elements
coupled with depletions in HFSEs that are the
hallmarks of calc-alkaline lavas from modern
subduction zones. All the lavas are unusually
enriched in Ba, Rb, and K, perhaps resulting
from the high-grade metamorphism they under-
went later. In summary, the geochemical stratig-
raphies of the ancient and young lavas are clear-
ly similar. Some differences, such as the greater
abundance of mac sills and ultramac rocks in
the Nuvvuagittuq stratigraphy, could indicate
that there were local differences in magma gen-
eration during rifting and subduction.
arc
andesites
boninites
forearc
basalts
IBM forearc
(52-44 Ma)
low-Ti
enriched
(calc-alkaline)
low-Ti
depleted
(boninites)
high-Ti
(tholeiites)
Nuvvuagittuq
(4400-3800 Ma)
Geochemical stratigraphy of subduction initiation
fracturing of oceanic plate
leads to decompression
melting of asthenosphere
onset of subduction and
fluid release remelts
shallow refractory
residue in asthenosphere
mature subduction
produces typical calc-
alkaline volcanics
Interpretation
1
10
100
0.1
1
10
100
1
10
100
flat HFSE-REE
patterns
? alteration
strongly depleted
HFSE-REE
enriched LILE
negative HFSE
anomalies
Trace element patterns
Rb
Ba
Th
K
Ta
Nb
La
Ce
Sr
Nd
Sm
Zr
Hf
Eu
Ti
Y
Yb
Lu
Rb
Ba
Th
K
Ta
Nb
La
Ce
Sr
Nd
Sm
Zr
Hf
Eu
Ti
Y
Yb
Lu
Rb
Ba
Th
K
Ta
Nb
La
Ce
Sr
Nd
Sm
Zr
Hf
Eu
Ti
Y
Yb
Lu
BIF
h
y
d
r
o
t
h
e
r
m
a
l

o
r
e
hydrothermal fluid -
seawater interaction
(black smokers)
Figure 2. Despite pos-
sible 4.4 b.y. difference in
age, stratigraphic succes-
sion and trace element
composition of old Earth
rocks (ONeil et al., 2011,
2012) are strikingly simi-
lar to those formed during
inception of Izu-Bonin-
Mariana (IBM) arc today
(Reagan et al., 2010). Geo-
chemical stratigraphy con-
sists of four successive
units that reect transition
from initial fracturing of
an oceanic plate through
commencement of uid re-
lease, melting, and nally
mature subduction. Trace
element patterns are indi-
vidual analyses: Nuvvuag-
ittuq (Quebec, Canada)
samples are PC132 (high
Ti), PC432 (low Ti), and
PC149 (low Ti enriched)
from ONeil et al. (2011);
IBM samples are 974-R9 g
(forearc basalt), 974-R4
(boninite), and GU9 (calc-
alkaline) from Reagan et
al. (2010) and Woodhead
(1989). BIFbanded iron
formation; LILElarge
ion lithophile elements;
HFSEhigh eld strength
elements; REErare earth
elements.
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HADEAN VERSUS EOARCHEAN
SUBDUCTION
Although much work remains to be done,
it is striking how closely both the stratigraphy
and geochemistry of the Nuvvuagittuq mac
rocks resemble those from the modern-day Izu-
Bonin-Mariana forearc (see Fig. 2). This match
is a strong argument for subduction occurring
back to at least 3.8 Ga and perhaps back as far as
4.4 Ga, soon after the rst crust formed on Earth.
Proposed alternative explanations for
the geochronological interpretation of the
142
Nd/
144
Nd versus
147
Sm/
144
Nd correlations
observed by ONeil et al. (2012) are that they
(1) reect Nd isotopic equilibration during
subsequent metamorphism, or (2) were inherit-
ed from their mantle source regions and reect
mixing arrays (Roth et al., 2013; Guitreau et
al., 2013). However, it is difcult to envisage
how successive basaltic rock sequences with
three markedly different trace element pat-
terns (cf. Fig. 2) could be produced by sequen-
tial (?) melting of an older basaltic crust and
heterogeneous mantle without both disturb-
ing the isochronous
142
Nd-Sm/Nd systematics
and yielding isotopic compositions that more
clearly correlate with major element compo-
sitions. The low-Ti lavas in the Nuvvuagittuq
greenstone belt are characterized by concave-
upward REE patterns and relatively low La/Nb
ratios as in Izu-Bonin-Mariana boninites (see
central panel in Fig. 2). Such patterns require
an episode of depletion by melt extraction fol-
lowed by a subsequent enrichment event that
most strongly affected the light REEs. These
geochemical patterns are consistent with uxed
melting in a subduction setting. These lavas
also have the most strongly negative
142
Nd
values, suggesting that the light REE enrich-
ment was developed prior to 4.3 Ga (ONeil et
al., 2012) and arguably at ca. 4.5 Ga (Guitreau
et al., 2013). Therefore, even if the Nuvvuagit-
tuq rocks recycled earlier crust, this crust al-
ready carried a subduction signature implying
some form of subduction from very early in
Earths history.
Whether the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal
belt records fully developed subduction is more
difcult to address with the available data. Ar-
chean subduction has been proposed to be epi-
sodic in nature (Moyen and van Hunen, 2012)
with successive stop-and-start events before
Earths convective system matured sufciently
to allow the operation of stable subduction. The
Nuvvuagittuq mac rocks may record a long
period of failed subduction initiation, during
which the regional lithosphere never fully man-
aged to evolve into a long-term, stable subduc-
tion system (e.g., Sizova et al., 2010) and re-
mained stuck in the subduction initiation stage
for hundreds of millions of years.
Notwithstanding the preceding caveats,
it seems likely that the combined geochemical
stratigraphic approach is more robust than iso-
lated, geochemical ngerprinting of individual
lavas in unravelling the secrets of the early
Earth. Most of the observations made here ap-
ply equally to Isua (Greenland), and others
have noted that many younger Archean belts
show a similar succession from tholeiitic to
calc-alkaline magmatism to that observed in the
Nuvvuagittuq rocks (e.g., Cawood et al., 2006;
ONeil et al., 2011). The challenge now is to
nd other sequences spanning a range of key
ages where a reliable geochemical stratigraphy
can be established. For example, an important
recent interpretation of 3.8 Ga mac rocks in
Isua is that these sequences represent supra-
subduction ophiolites; this would provide inde-
pendent evidence for early subduction (Furnes
et al., 2009; Friend and Nutman, 2010). Such
observations should help us address whether
modern plate tectonics have operated through-
out Earth history and to use that constraint to
better understand early mantle convection and
continental crust development.
PRODUCTION OF SILICIC CRUST
The Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt also
contains rocks comparable to the trondjhemite-
tonalite-granodiorite (TTG) association that
is common in remnants of Earths early silicic
crust (cf. Kemp et al., 2010). It has been argued
that TTG magmas cannot have formed from
melting of a normal MORB-like composition
(Moyen and Stevens, 2006; Moyen and Martin,
2012), but rather derived from the remelting
of immature arc rocks. Moreover, experiments
performed by Adam et al. (2012) directly dem-
onstrate that the composition of silicic rocks
that intruded the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt
at ca. 3.83.6 Ga (ONeil et al., 2012; Cates et
al., 2013) can be reproduced by partial melting
of the low-Ti mac rocks. The negative
142
Nd
values of the Nuvvuagittuq silicic rocks are the
same as those of the low-Ti mac rocks, thus
strongly supporting this model. Production of
silicic crust in modern arcs is similarly linked
either to partial melting of mac arc rocks (e.g.,
Annen et al., 2006) or to extended fractionation
of mac magmas (e.g., Turner et al., 2012).
CRADLE FOR EARLY LIFE
The possibility of forearcs existing at
4.4 Ga or 3.8 Ga has profound implications for
when and where early life began. There has been
much discussion of the possible importance of
the serpentinization process as an energy source
for early life (Russell et al., 2010; Sleep et al.,
2011). This process generates H
2
, CH
4
, and
other simple organic molecules, and can be a
source of chemical energy for chemosynthetic
organisms (e.g., hydrogen oxidation, methano-
genesis; McCollom and Seewald, 2013). The
Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc has abundant ser-
pentine and chemosynthetic communities. For
example, high pH uids with signicant con-
centrations of CH
4
and other organic molecules
that are likely produced by abiogenic processes
vent from serpentine mud volcanoes in the
Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc and support an ex-
tremophilic microbial community (Mottl et al.,
2003). A recently discovered community of ves-
icomyid clams and other organisms associated
with uids vented through serpentine near the
Challenger Deep (Mariana Trench) also is likely
chemosynthetically driven (Ohara et al., 2012).
In addition to a source of energy, early life
required a molecule that played the genomic
role now occupied by DNA, and a catalytic
role currently performed by protein (Zaher and
Unrau, 2007). The RNA world hypothesis
(Gilbert, 1986) suggests that both roles were
served by RNA when life began. One problem
with early RNA stability is that its sugar ribose
decomposes rapidly in most aqueous solutions
(Larralde et al., 1995). Thus, for RNA to both
form spontaneously and persist, ribose must do
likewise. A promising way for ribose to have
been stabilized in early Earth aqueous solutions
is complexation with borate ions, as discussed
by Ricardo et al. (2004).
In the modern Izu-Bonin-Mariana forearc,
slab-derived uids venting through serpentinites
underlying the ophiolitic crust are enriched in
boron (Mottl et al., 2003). These uids also en-
rich the associated serpentine in boron (Kodo-
lnyi et al., 2012). If boron-laden subducted u-
ids serpentinized the ultramac rocks that make
up a signicant proportion of the Nuvvuagittuq
supracrustal belt, then the serpentine-uid inter-
faces in this early Earth subduction zone could
have been an ideal location for rst life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to Steve Benner for encourage-
ment and editorial suggestions, and thank Peter Ca-
wood, Eric Tohver, and two anonymous reviewers.
Turner was supported by Australian Research Coun-
cil (ARC) Professorial Fellowship DP0988658 and
Rushmer was supported by ARC Grant DP0986232.
Reagan acknowledges funding from U.S. National
Science Foundation MARGINS grant EAR-0840862.
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Manuscript received 1 July 2013
Revised manuscript received 18 October 2013
Manuscript accepted 26 October 2013
Printed in USA
as doi:10.1130/G34886.1 Geology, published online on 6 January 2014