Cooling of the Earth and core formation after the giant impact

Bernard J. Wood () and Alex N. Halliday
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Bernard J. Wood: University of Bristol
Alex N. Halliday: University of Oxford

Nature, 2005, vol. 437, issue 7063, 1345-1348

Abstract: Beat the clock One aspect of early Earth evolution that remains puzzling is the discrepancy between the more rapid formation time of the core given by the decay of hafnium to tungsten than by the clock based on the decay of uranium to lead. Wood and Halliday suggest that the explanation may be that the Hf–W clock represents the principal phase of core formation before the giant impact that formed the Moon. The upheaval introduced oxidation and the formation of a sulphur-rich metal in to which lead would have dissolved preferentially, in effect resetting the U–Pb clock to a younger date.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04129

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