Description
The Archean Earth: Tempos and Events, Second Edition is a process-based reference book that focuses on the most important events in early Earth, bringing together experts across Earth Sciences to give a comprehensive overview of the main events of the Archean Eon, as well as of the rates at which important geological and geobiological processes occurred in the same time interval. Over the last two decades, significant progress has been made in our understanding of the processes and events on the early Earth corresponding to advances in the analytical technologies and the continuing efforts of many colleagues that pursue their passion of unravelling the Archean rock record.The book addresses the origin of the Earth, succeeding impact events, and the evolution of the early Earth, covering topics such as Archean tectonics, volcanism, generation of continental crust, and the ongoing debate about the onset of plate tectonics; the evolution and models for Earth's hydrosphere and atmosphere; the Archean atmosphere and chemical sedimentation; and sedimentation through Archean time; among others. Each topic is well-illustrated and includes a closing commentary at the end of each chapter, leading up to the final chapter which blends the major geological events and rates at which important processes occurred into a synthesis, postulating a number of "event clusters" in the Archean when significant changes occurred in many natural systems and geological environments- Provides a comprehensive introduction and overview on early Earth, highlighting the Archean Eon in the context of the larger time scales- Presents detailed descriptions of the main processes, events, and rates that occurred throughout the Archean- Offers an assessment of the first habitable environments, the preserved morphological and geochemical traces of early life, and the impact it had on Earth's biogeochemical cycles
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. FORMATION OF A HABITABLE PLANET1.1. Introduction1.2. Earth's Formation and First Billion Years1.3. Setting the stage: Building and maintaining a habitable world and the early conditions that could favor life's beginnings on Earth and beyond1.4. Early Impacts: Processes and the Terrestrial Record1.5 Our Solar System Neighborhood: Three Diverging Tales of Planetary Habitability and Windows to Earth's Past and Future1.6. What the Zircon Record Reveals About the Habitability of the Hadean EarthChapter 2. EVOLUTION OF EARTH'S INTERIOR2.1. Introduction2.2. Archean Mantle Heat Transport and Thermal Evolution2.3. Generation and Preservation of Archean Lithosphere and Crust2.4. Mantle Differentiation, Mixing and Interior-Exterior ExchangeChapter 3. ARCHEAN MAGMATISM, TECTONICS AND CONTINENTAL CRUST3.1. Introduction3.2. Archean to Mesozoic-Cenozoic Seismic Crustal Structure: Implications for Geological and Biological Evolution3.3. Archean Greenstones and Evolving Tectonic Regimes on Earth3.4. Towards quantification of the style of Archean plate tectonics from paleo-plate boundary features3.5. Archean Greenstone Belts: Records of Pre-/Non-Plate Tectonics3.6. Komatiites: their geochemistry and origins3.7 Record of Archean and earliest Proterozoic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) and their mafic dyke swarms3.8. The PalaeoPlates compilation of Earth's crustal blocks: Implications for continental growth, recycling, and preservation, and for global paleogeographic reconstructions in Archean and Proterozoic time3.9. Additional aspects on the Archean magmatic and tectonic recordChapter 4. ATMOSPHERIC EVOLUTION AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES4.1. Introduction4.2. Oxygenating Earth4.3. Evolution of the Archean Atmosphere4.4. Iron formations: Unique archives to reconstruct the Precambrian Earth4.5. Ephemeral subaerial environments, paleosols, and life on land: consequences for early continental weathering and global biogeochemistry4.6 Evolving weathering processes during the Archean Eon4.7. Evolution of Earth's Biogeochemical Cycles4.7.1. Metal sources and sinks4.7.2. Biogeochemical nitrogen cycling on the Archean Earth4.7.3. Phosphorus bioabailability4.7.4 Archean Methane Cycling and Life's Co-Evolution: Intertwining Early Biogeochemical Processes and Ancient Microbial MetabolismChapter 5. EVOLUTION OF LIFE AND ARCHEAN GEOBIOLOGY5.1. Introduction, Archean cherts?5.2. Biosignatures and tests of biogenicity in the early rock record5.3. Origins of Archean organic matter5.4. Microbial Mats in the Siliciclastic Rock Record5.5. Occurrence and Biogenicity of Archean Stromatolites and Microbial Mats5.6. The Archean microfossil record5.7. Evidence of Earth's Early Biosphere5.7.1. Critical evaluation of the age and biosignatures of Earth's oldest purported fossils from the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt5.7.2. Seeking Eoarchean Life Signatures in the Isua Supracrustal Belt and the Akilia Association (Greenland)5.7.3. Evidence of Earth's Early Biosphere from the Pilbara region, Western Australia.5.7.4. South Africa's Paleoarchean record of early life5.7.5. The Archaean record of the Singhbhum Craton – a new window into early life on Earth5.8. Archean Carbonate Platforms5.9. Evolving Life and secular changes in the Archean Sedimentation PatternsChapter 6. SEDIMENTATION THROUGH ARCHEAN TIME6.1. Introduction 6.2. Archean Tides and Tidalites: Recognition and Significance6.3. Archean alluvial, fluvial, lacustrine and glacial deposits: An overview6.4. Archean Eolian Dynamics, Deposits, and Indicators of Other Weather Phenomena: Lessons from Earth and Mars6.5. Sedimentary basins of (Paleo-)Archean greenstone belts6.6. Comparing the Archean stratigraphic sequences of India and South Africa 6.7. Visualizing the Archean through AI
