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Uniformitarian Theories and Catastrophic Events Through Time

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The Archaean: Geological and Geochemical Windows into the Early Earth

Part of the book series: Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences ((MASE,volume 9))

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Abstract

Uniformitarian models for the early Earth take little or no account of repeated impacts of asteroid clusters and their effects on crust and mantle. However a large body of evidence exists for multiple impacts by bodies on the scale of tens of kilometer during ~3.47–2.48 Ga (Lowe et al. Astrobiology 3:7–48, 2003; Lowe and Byerly, Did the LHB end not with a bang but with a whimper? 41st Lunar Planet Science conference 2563pdf, 2010; Glikson and Vickers. Aust J Earth Sci 57:79–95, 2010; Glikson The asteroid impact connection of planetary evolution. Springer-Briefs, Dordrecht, 150 pp, 2013), likely accounting at least in part for mafic-ultramafic volcanism produced by mantle rebound and melting events, consistent with original suggestion by Green (Earth Planet Sci Lett 15:263–270, 1972; Green DH Petrogenesis of Archaean ultramafic magmas and implications for Archaean tectonics. In: Kroner A (ed) Precambrian plate tectonics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 469–489, 1981). Further, the juxtaposition of at least four impact ejecta units with the fundamental unconformity between granite-greenstone terrains and semi-continental deposits in both the Barberton Greenstone Belt and the Pilbara Craton about ~3.26–3.227 Ga constitutes a primary example for the tectonic and magmatic effects of asteroid impact clusters in the Archaean, supporting Lowe and Byerly’s (Did the LHB end not with a bang but with a whimper? 41st Lunar Planet Science conference 2563pdf, 2010) suggested extension of the late heavy bombardment (LHB).

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  1. School of Archaeology and Anthropology and Planetary Science Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Andrew Y. Glikson

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Glikson, A.Y. (2014). Uniformitarian Theories and Catastrophic Events Through Time. In: The Archaean: Geological and Geochemical Windows into the Early Earth. Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07908-0_12

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