Seeing through the magnetite:Reassessing Eoarchean atmosphere composition from Isua(Greenland) ≥3.7 Ga banded iron formations

Estimates of early atmosphere compositions from metamorphosed banded iron formations(BIFs)including the well-studied ≥3.7 BIFs of the Isua supracrustal belt(Greenland)are dependent on knowledge of primary versus secondary Fe-mineralogical assemblages.Using new observations from locally well preserved domains,we interpret that a previously assumed primary redox indicator mineral,magnetite,is secondary after sedimentary Fe-clays(probably greenalite)±carbonates.Within ~3.7 Ga Isua BIF,pre-tectonic nodules of quartz+Fe-rich amphibole±calcite reside in a finegrained(≤100 μm)quartz+magnetite matrix.We interpret the Isua nodule amphibole as the metamorphosed equivalent of primary Fe-rich clays,armoured from diagenetic oxidative reactions by early silica concretion.Additionally,in another low strain lacunae,~3.76 Ga BIF layering is not solid magnetite but instead fine-grained magnetite+quartz aggregates.These magnetite+quartz aggregates are interpreted as the metamorphosed equivalent of Fe-clay-rich layers that were oxidised during diagenesis,because they were not armoured by early silicification.In almost all Isua BIF exposures,this evidence has been destroyed by strong ductile deformation.The Fe-clays likely formed by abiotic reactions between aqueous Fe^(2+)and silica.These clays along with silica±carbonate were deposited below an oceanic Fe-chemocline as the sedimentary precursors of BIF.Breakdown of the clays on the sea floor may have been by anaerobic oxidation of Fe^(2+),a mechanism compatible with iron isotopic data previously published on these rocks.The new determinations of the primary redoxsensitive Fe-mineralogy of BIF significantly revise estimates of early Earth atmospheric oxygen and CO_2 content,with formation of protolith Fe-rich clays and carbonates compatible with an anoxic Eoarchean atmosphere with much higher CO_2 levels than previously estimated for Isua and in the present-day atmosphere.

Convergent plate boundary environments for formation of≥3800 Ma mafic-ultramafic assemblages(Isua area,Greenland):Implications for early global geodynamics

In the gneiss terrane on the south side of the Eoarchean Isua supracrustal belt,ultramafic rocks with relict abyssal peridotite mineralogy(Bennett et al.,2002;Friend et al.,2002;Nutman et al.,2007;Rollinson,2007;van de Löcht et al.,2020),layered gabbros with cumulate ultramafic rocks,basalts and associated siliceous sedimentary rocks were tectonically-imbricated,prior to and during intrusion of ca.3800 Ma tonalites.Together with3800 Ma basalts in the Outer Arc Group of the nearby Isua supracrustal belt,the composition of all these mafic rocks(e.g.,Th-Hf-Nb systematics,high Th/Yb,Ba/Nb,Ba/Yb ratios and negative Nb and Ti anomalies)shows affinity with modern suprasubduction rocks whose genesis involved fluid fluxing of the upper mantle.However,the majority of these samples have Ba/Nb and Ba/Yb values less than in modern island arc magmas,but similar to many backarc basin magmas(e.g.,Pearce and Stern,2006).It is unknown whether these ca.3800 Ma mafic rocks are,(i)arc rocks where the Ba/Nb and Ba/Yb signatures reflect lower surficial Ba in Eoarchean oceanic settings,or(ii)in direct comparison with Phanerozoic suites,these signatures reflect a back-arc setting with interplay between fluid fluxing and decompressional melting.The tectonic intercalation of upper mantle with lower and upper crustal rocks,combined with the fluid-fluxing influences seen in chemistry of all the mafic rocks is best accommodated in a compressional Eoarchean convergent plate boundary setting within a mobile-lid regime.Thus stagnant lid scenarios of crust formation,if operative,must have co-existed or alternated with mobile-lid regimes by 3800 Ma.