Petrogenesis and tectonics of the Acasta Gneiss Complex derived from integrated petrology and ¹⁴²Nd and ¹⁸²W extinct nuclide-geochemistry

The timing and mechanisms of continental crust formation represent major outstanding questions in the Earth sciences. Extinct-nuclide radioactive systems offer the potential to evaluate the temporal relations of a variety of differentiation processes on the early Earth, including crust formation. Here, we investigate the whole-rock ¹⁸²W/¹⁸⁴W and ¹⁴²Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios and zircon Δ¹⁷O values of a suite of well-studied and lithologically-homogeneous meta-igneous rocks from the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Northwest Territories, Canada, including the oldest-known zircon-bearing rocks on Earth. In the context of previously published geochemical data and petrogenetic models, the new ¹⁴²Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd data indicate that formation of the Hadean–Eoarchean Acasta crust was ultimately derived from variable sources, both in age and composition. Although 4.02 Ga crust was extracted from a nearly bulk-Earth source, heterogeneous μ ¹⁴²Nd signatures indicate that Eoarchean rocks of the Acasta Gneiss Complex were formed by partial melting of hydrated, Hadean-age mafic crust at depths shallower than the garnet stability field. By ∼3.6 Ga, granodioritic–granitic rocks were formed by partial melting of Archean hydrated mafic crust that was melted at greater depth, well into the garnet stability field. Our ¹⁸²W results indicate that the sources to the Acasta Gneiss Complex had homogeneous, high-μ¹⁸²W on the order of +10 ppm—a signature ubiquitous in other Eoarchean terranes. No significant deviation from the terrestrial mass fractionation line was found in the triple oxygen isotope (¹⁶O–¹⁷O–¹⁸O) compositions of Acasta zircons, confirming homogeneous oxygen isotope compositions in Earth's mantle by 4.02 Ga.