Ch 8 Archean
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Transcript Ch 8 Archean
Precambrian Earth and Life
History—The Eoarchean and
Archean
Ch 8
Precambrian Time Span
How many years
Are represented
By the Precambrian?
How many years are
Represented by the
Archean Eon?
What per cent of time
Is represented by the
Eoarchean (Hadean)?
What per cent of time
Is represented by the
Entire Precambrian?
Time check
If a 24-hour clock represented all 4.6 billion
years of geologic time
the Precambrian would be slightly more than 21
hours long,
It constitutes about 88% of all geologic time
How big is a billion?
1. If you received $1,000 a day, seven days a week, how long
would it take to reach a billion?
2.
If you received $1 every second for your entire life, and you
just reached $1 billion dollars, when were you born?
3.
Scientists believe the earth to be approximately 4.5 billion
years old. If someone had stashed $155 under a rock each
year since the Big Bang or Creation, whichever is your cup of
tea, we’d have about $700 billion just in time to solve the
current financial crisis!
Precambrian
No rocks are known for the first 640 million years of
geologic time
The oldest known rocks on Earth are 3.96 billion years old
Updated:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008
/09/080925144624.htm
Ancient rocks such as the 3.9 billion year
old Acasta Gneiss in Canada are
metamorphic. What does that reveal about
earth’s crust?
What do detrital zircons reveal about
earth’s crust?
Rocks of the Precambrian
Why is it difficult to interpret the
geologic past of the Precambrian
period?
buried deep beneath younger rocks
altered by metamorphism and deformed
fossils are rare and not much help
The Eoarchean: What is
known?
Except for meteorites no rocks of Hadean age
are present on Earth, however we do know
some events that took place during this period
Earth was accreted
Differentiation occurred, creating a core and
mantle and at least some crust
Earth beautiful
Earth….
about 4.6 billion years ago
• Shortly after accretion, Earth was a rapidly rotating, hot,
barren, waterless planet
–
–
–
–
bombarded by comets and meteorites
There were no continents,
intense cosmic radiation
widespread volcanism
Earth’s earliest crust formed
Eoarchean crust was probably thin, unstable and made up of
ultramafic rock
rock with comparatively little silica
Less than 40% SiO2 – ultramafic
40% - 60% SiO2 – mafic
60% to 70% SiO2 – intermediate
Greater than 70% -- felsic
This ultramafic crust was disrupted by upwelling basaltic
magma at ridges and consumed at subduction zones
Eoarchean continental crust may have formed by evolution
of silica-rich material
Sialic crust contains considerable silicon, oxygen and aluminum as in
present day continental crust
Only sialic-rich crust, because of its lower
density, is immune to destruction by subduction
Crustal Evolution
A second stage in crustal evolution began as Earth’s
production of radiogenic heat decreased
Subduction and partial melting of earlier-formed basaltic
crust resulted in the origin of andesitic island arcs
Partial melting of lower crustal andesites, in turn, yielded
silica-rich granitic magmas that were emplaced in the
andesitic arcs
Dynamic Processes
During the Eoarchean, various dynamic systems similar
to ones we see today, became operative,
Once Earth differentiated into core, mantle and crust,
internal heat caused interactions among plates
they diverged, converged and slid past each other
Continents began to grow by accretion along
convergent plate boundaries
Density of Continental Crust ~ 2.7g/cm3
Density of Oceanic Crust ~ 3.0 g/cm3
Continental Foundations:
Precambrian Cratons
Precambrian shields found on every
continent
Broad platforms of buried Precambrian
rocks that underlie much of each
continent
Distribution of Precambrian Rocks
• Areas of exposed
Precambrian rocks
constitute the shields
• Platforms consist of
buried Precambrian
rocks
Shields and adjoining platforms make up cratons
Canadian Shield
The craton in North America is the
Canadian shield
Occupies most of northeastern Canada,
a large part of Greenland, parts of the
Lake Superior region in Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan, and the
Adirondack Mountains of New York
Canadian Shield Rocks
• Gneiss, a metamorphic rock, Georgian Bay
Ontario, Canada
Canadian Shield Rocks
• Basalt (dark, volcanic) and granite (light,
plutonic) on the Chippewa River, Ontario
Archean Rocks
The most common Archean Rock associations
are granite-gneiss complexes
The rocks vary from granite (felsic) to
peridotite (ultramafic) to various sedimentary
rocks all of which have been metamorphosed
Greenstone belts are subordinate in quantity
but are important in unraveling Archean tectonism
Greenstone Belts
An ideal greenstone belt has 3 major rock
units
volcanic rocks are most common in the lower
and middle units
the upper units are mostly sedimentary
The belts typically have synclinal structure
Most were intruded by granitic magma and cut
by thrust faults
Low-grade metamorphism
makes many of the igneous rocks greenish
(chlorite)
Greenstone Belt Volcanics
Abundant pillow lavas in greenstone belts
indicate that much of the volcanism was under
water
Pyroclastic
materials probably
erupted where
large volcanic
centers built above
sea level
Pillow lavas in Ispheming greenstone
at Marquette, Michigan
Ultramafic Lava Flows
The most interesting rocks in greenstone belts cooled
from ultramafic lava flows
Ultramafic magma has less than 40% silica
requires near surface magma temperatures of
more than 1600°C—250°C
hotter than any recent flows
During Earth’s early history, radiogenic heating was
higher and the mantle was as much as 300 °C hotter
than it is now
This allowed ultramafic magma to reach the surface
Sedimentary Rocks of
Greenstone Belts
Sedimentary rocks are found
throughout the greenstone belts
Mostly found in the upper unit
Many of these rocks are
successions of
graywacke
a sandstone with abundant clay and
rock fragments
and argillite
a slightly metamorphosed mudrock
Sedimentary Rocks of
Greenstone Belts
Small-scale cross-bedding and graded
bedding indicate an origin as turbidity
current deposits
Quartz sandstone and shale, indicate
delta, tidal-flat, barrier-island and
shallow marine deposition
Relationship of Greenstone Belts to
Granite-Gneiss Complexes
Two adjacent
greenstone belts
showing synclinal
structure
They are underlain
by granite-gneiss
complexes
and intruded by
granite
Canadian Greenstone Belts
In North America,
most greenstone
belts (dark green)
occur in the
Superior and
Slave cratons of
the Canadian
shield
Evolution of Greenstone Belts
Models for the formation of greenstone
belts involve Archean plate movement
In one model, plates formed volcanic
arcs by subduction
the greenstone belts
formed in back-arc
marginal basins
Evolution of Greenstone Belts
According to this model,
volcanism and sediment deposition took place as
the basins opened
Evolution of Greenstone Belts
Then during closure, the rocks were compressed,
deformed, cut by faults, and intruded by
rising magma
The Sea of Japan is a
modern example of a
back-arc basin
Archean Plate Tectonics
Plates must have moved faster
residual heat from Earth’s origin
more radiogenic heat
magma was generated more
rapidly
Archean Plate Tectonics
continental accretion: Continents grew quickly
as plates collided with island arcs and other plates
Also, ultramafic extrusive igneous rocks were
more common due to the higher temperatures
Southern Superior Craton Evolution
Geologic map
• Plate tectonic model for
evolution of the southern
Superior craton
• North-south cross
section
• Greenstone belts (dark
green)
• Granite-gneiss
complexes (light green
Atmosphere and Hydrosphere
Earth’s early atmosphere and hydrosphere were quite
different than they are now
They also played an important role in the development of
the biosphere
Today’s atmosphere
is mostly nitrogen (N2)
abundant free oxygen (O2)
oxygen not combined with other elements
such as in carbon dioxide (CO2)
water vapor (H2O)
ozone (O3)
which is common enough in the upper atmosphere to block most of
the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation
Present-day Atmosphere
Nonvariable gases
Nitrogen
N2
78.08%
Oxygen
O2
20.95
Argon
Ar
0.93
Neon
Ne
0.002
Others
0.001
in percentage by volume
Variable gases
Water vapor
H2O
0.1 to .4
Carbon dioxide CO2
0.034
Ozone
O3
0.0006
Other gases
Trace
Particulates
normally trace
Earth’s Very Early Atmosphere
Earth’s very early atmosphere was
probably composed of hydrogen and
helium, the most abundant gases in the
universe
What are two reasons that Earth’s early
atmosphere was most likely lost to space?
Outgassing
Once a core-generated
magnetic field protected Earth,
gases released during
volcanism began to accumulate
Called outgassing
Water vapor is the most common volcanic
gas today
also emitted
carbon dioxide
sulfur dioxide
Hydrogen Sulfide
carbon monoxide
Hydrogen
Chlorine
nitrogen
Early Precambrian Atmosphere
Eoarchean volcanoes probably emitted the
same gases, and thus an atmosphere
developed
but one lacking free oxygen and an ozone
layer
It was rich in carbon dioxide, and gases
reacting in this early atmosphere probably
formed
ammonia (NH3)
methane (CH4)
This early atmosphere persisted throughout
the Archean
Evidence for an
Oxygen-Free Atmosphere
Some of the evidence for this conclusion comes from
detrital deposits containing minerals that oxidize
rapidly in the presence of oxygen
pyrite (FeS2)
uraninite (UO2)
Oxidized iron becomes increasingly common in
Proterozoic rocks
Introduction of Free Oxygen
Two processes account for introducing free oxygen
into the atmosphere,
1. Photochemical dissociation involves ultraviolet
radiation in the upper atmosphere
The radiation breaks up water molecules and releases
oxygen and hydrogen
This could account for 2% of present-day oxygen
but with 2% oxygen, ozone forms, creating a barrier
against ultraviolet radiation
2. More important were the activities of organism that
practiced photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a metabolic process in which
carbon dioxide and water combine into organic
molecules and oxygen is released as a waste
product
CO2 + H2O ==> organic compounds + O2
“autotrophic food”
Even with photochemical dissociation and
photosynthesis, probably no more than 1% of the free
oxygen level of today was present by the end of the
Archean
Earth’s Surface Waters
Outgassing was responsible for the early atmosphere
and also for Earth’s surface water
the hydrosphere
Some but probably not much of our surface water was
derived from icy comets
At some point during the Eoarchean, the Earth had
cooled sufficiently so that the abundant volcanic water
vapor condensed and began to accumulate in oceans
Oceans were present by Early Archean
times
Ocean water
The volume and geographic extent of the Early Archean
oceans cannot be determined
Volcanoes still erupt and release water vapor
Is the volume of ocean water still increasing?
Much of volcanic water vapor today is recycled surface
water
First Organisms
Today, Earth’s biosphere consists of millions of
species found in the “five kingdoms”
bacteria, fungi, protists, plants, and animals
only bacteria are found in Archean rocks
We have fossils from Archean rocks
3.3 to 3.5 billion years old
(ancient stromatolites)
Carbon isotope ratios in rocks in Greenland that are
3.85 billion years old convince some investigators that
life was present then
But first, What Is Life?
Minimally, a living organism must reproduce and practice
some kind of metabolism
Reproduction insures the long-term survival of a group of
organisms
whereas metabolism such as photosynthesis, for instance
insures the short-term survival of an individual
The distinction between living and nonliving things is
not always easy
Are viruses living?
When in a host cell they behave like living organisms
but outside they neither reproduce nor metabolize
What Is Life?
Comparatively simple organic (carbon based)
molecules known as microspheres
form spontaneously
show greater
organizational
complexity than
inorganic objects such
as rocks
can even grow and
divide in a somewhat
organism-like fashion
but their processes are more like random chemical
reactions, so they are not living
How Did Life First Originate?
To originate by natural processes, life must have
passed through a prebiotic stage
it showed signs of living organisms but was not truly living
In 1924 A.I. Oparin postulated that life originated
when Earth’s atmosphere had little or no free
oxygen
Oxygen is damaging to Earth’s most primitive living
organisms
Some types of bacteria must live where free oxygen is not
present
How Did Life First Originate?
With little or no oxygen in the early atmosphere and
no ozone layer to block ultraviolet radiation, life could
have come into existence from nonliving matter
The origin of life has 2 requirements
a source of appropriate elements for organic
molecules
energy sources to promote chemical reactions
Elements of Life
All organisms are composed mostly of
carbon (C)
hydrogen (H)
nitrogen (N)
oxygen (O)
All of which were present in Earth’s early
atmosphere as:
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
water vapor (H2O)
nitrogen (N2)
and possibly methane (CH4)
and ammonia (NH3)
Basic Building Blocks of Life
Energy from
lightning
ultraviolet radiation
probably promoted chemical reactions
during which C, H, N and O combined
to form monomers
comparatively simple organic molecules
such as amino acids
Monomers are the basic building blocks of more
complex organic molecules
Experiment on the Origin of Life
During the late 1950s
Stanley Miller
synthesized several
amino acids by
circulating gases
approximating the early
atmosphere in a closed
glass vessel
Polymerization
The molecules of organisms are polymers
proteins
nucleic acids
RNA-ribonucleic acid and DNA-deoxyribonucleic acid
consist of monomers linked together in a specific
sequence
How did polymerization take place?
Water usually causes depolymerization, however,
researchers synthesized molecules known as
proteinoids some of which consist of more than 200
linked amino acids when heating dehydrated
concentrated amino acids
Proteinoids
The heated dehydrated concentrated amino acids
spontaneously polymerized to form proteinoids
Perhaps similar conditions for polymerization existed on
early Earth,but the proteinoids needed to be protected by
an outer membrane or they would break down
Experiments show that proteinoids
spontaneously aggregate into microspheres
are bounded by cell-like membranes
grow and divide much as bacteria do
Proteinoid Microspheres
Proteinoid
microspheres
produced in
experiments
Proteinoids grow and
divide much as
bacteria do
Protobionts
Protobionts are intermediate between inorganic
chemical compounds and living organisms
Because of their life-like properties the proteinoid
molecules can be referred to as protobionts
Monomer and Proteinoid Soup
The origin-of-life experiments are interesting, but what
is their relationship to early Earth?
Monomers likely formed continuously and by the
billions and accumulated in the early oceans into a
“hot, dilute soup” (J.B.S. Haldane, British biochemist)
The amino acids in the “soup” might have washed up
onto a beach or perhaps cinder cones where they were
concentrated by evaporation and polymerized by heat
The polymers then washed back into the ocean where
they reacted further
Next Critical Step
Not much is known about the next critical step in the
origin of life the development of a reproductive
mechanism
The microspheres divide and may represent a
protoliving system but in today’s cells, nucleic acids,
either RNA or DNA, are necessary for reproduction
The problem is that nucleic acids
cannot replicate without protein enzymes,
and the appropriate enzymes cannot be made without
nucleic acids,
or so it seemed until fairly recently
Azoic (“without life”)
Prior to the mid-1950s, scientists had little knowledge of
Precambrian life
They assumed that life of the Cambrian must have had a
long early history but the fossil record offered little to
support this idea
A few enigmatic Precambrian fossils had been reported but
most were dismissed as inorganic structures of one kind or
another
The Precambrian, once called Azoic (“without life”), seemed
devoid of life
Oldest Know Organisms
Charles Walcott (early 1900s) described structures
from the Early Proterozoic Gunflint Iron Formation of Ontario,
Canada
that he proposed represented reefs constructed by
algae
Now called
stromatolites
not until 1954
were they shown
to be products of
organic activity
Present-day stromatolites Shark Bay,
Australia
Stromatolites
Different types of stromatolites include
irregular mats, columns, and columns linked
by mats
Stromatolites
Present-day stromatolites form and grow as sediment
grains are trapped on sticky mats of photosynthesizing
blue-green algae (cyanobacteria)
they are restricted to environments where snails cannot
live
The oldest known undisputed stromatolites are found in
rocks in South Africa that are 3.0 billion years old
but probable ones are also known from the Warrawoona
Group in Australia which is 3.3 to 3.5 billion years old
Other Evidence of Early Life
Carbon isotopes in rocks 3.85 billion years old in
Greenland indicate life was perhaps present then
The oldest known cyanobacteria were
photosynthesizing organisms but photosynthesis is a
complex metabolic process
A simpler type of metabolism must have preceded it
No fossils are known of these earliest organisms
Earliest Organisms
The earliest organisms must have resembled tiny
anaerobic bacteria
they required no oxygen
They must have totally depended on an external source of
nutrients that is, they were heterotrophic
as opposed to autotrophic organisms that make their
own nutrients, as in photosynthesis
They all had prokaryotic cells
they lacked a cell nucleus
and lacked other internal cell structures typical of
eukaryotic cells (to be discussed later in the term)
An alternative to the ocean/land model of
earliest life forms:
Hydrothermal vents, high in metals and
sulfides, may have contained the materials
and energy (earth’s heat) to cause
polymerization of monomers.
Previously unknown life communities are
being observed today in these volcanic
vents under the oceans.
Fossil Prokaryotes
Photomicrographs from western Australia’s 3.3- to 3.5billion-year-old Warrawoona Group
with schematic restoration shown at the right of each
Iron
Banded Iron formations are sedimentary rocks
consisting of alternating layers of silica (chert) and
iron minerals
About 6% of the world’s banded iron formations were
deposited during the Archean Eon
Although Archean iron ores are mined in some areas
they are neither as thick nor as extensive as those of
the Proterozoic Eon, which constitute the world’s
major source of iron