Early history of Earth's crust-mantle system inferred from hafnium isotopes in chondrites

TY - JOUR

T1 - Early history of Earth's crust-mantle system inferred from hafnium isotopes in chondrites

AU - Bizzarro, Martin

AU - Haack, Henning

AU - Rosing, M.

AU - Baker, J.A.

AU - Ulfbeck, D.

PY - 2003

Y1 - 2003

N2 - The Lu to Hf decay series has been widely used to understand the nature of Earth's early crust-mantle system. The interpretation, however, of Lu-Hf isotope data requires accurate knowledge of the radioactive decay constant of Lu (¿176), as well as bulk-Earth reference parameters. A recent calibration of the ¿176 value calls for the presence of highly unradiogenic hafnium in terrestrial zircons with ages greater than 3.9 Gyr, implying widespread continental crust extraction from an isotopically enriched mantle source more than 4.3 Gyr ago, but does not provide evidence for a complementary depleted mantle reservoir. Here we report Lu-Hf isotope measurements of different Solar System objects including chondrites and basaltic eucrites. The chondrites define a Lu-Hf isochron with an initial Hf/Hf ratio of 0.279628 ± 0.000047, corresponding to ¿176 = 1.983 ± 0.033 x 10yr using an age of 4.56 Gyr for the chondrite-forming event. This ¿176 value indicates that Earth's oldest minerals were derived from melts of a mantle source with a time-integrated history of depletion rather than enrichment. The depletion event must have occurred no later than 320 Myr after planetary accretion, consistent with timing inferred from extinct radionuclides.

AB - The Lu to Hf decay series has been widely used to understand the nature of Earth's early crust-mantle system. The interpretation, however, of Lu-Hf isotope data requires accurate knowledge of the radioactive decay constant of Lu (¿176), as well as bulk-Earth reference parameters. A recent calibration of the ¿176 value calls for the presence of highly unradiogenic hafnium in terrestrial zircons with ages greater than 3.9 Gyr, implying widespread continental crust extraction from an isotopically enriched mantle source more than 4.3 Gyr ago, but does not provide evidence for a complementary depleted mantle reservoir. Here we report Lu-Hf isotope measurements of different Solar System objects including chondrites and basaltic eucrites. The chondrites define a Lu-Hf isochron with an initial Hf/Hf ratio of 0.279628 ± 0.000047, corresponding to ¿176 = 1.983 ± 0.033 x 10yr using an age of 4.56 Gyr for the chondrite-forming event. This ¿176 value indicates that Earth's oldest minerals were derived from melts of a mantle source with a time-integrated history of depletion rather than enrichment. The depletion event must have occurred no later than 320 Myr after planetary accretion, consistent with timing inferred from extinct radionuclides.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0037468174&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/nature01421

DO - 10.1038/nature01421

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 12606997

AN - SCOPUS:0037468174

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 421

SP - 931

EP - 933

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 6926

ER -