Evidence for extremely rapid magma ocean crystallization and crust formation on Mars

Laura C. Bouvier, Maria M. Costa, James N. Connelly, Ninna K. Jensen, Daniel Wielandt, Michael Storey, Alexander A. Nemchin, Martin J. Whitehouse, Joshua F. Snape, Jeremy J. Bellucci, Frédéric Moynier, Arnaud Agranier, Bleuenn Gueguen, Maria Schönbächler and Martin Bizzarro ()
Additional contact information
Laura C. Bouvier: Centre for Star and Planet Formation and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Maria M. Costa: Centre for Star and Planet Formation and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
James N. Connelly: Centre for Star and Planet Formation and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Ninna K. Jensen: Centre for Star and Planet Formation and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Daniel Wielandt: Quadlab and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Michael Storey: Quadlab and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen
Alexander A. Nemchin: Curtin University
Martin J. Whitehouse: Swedish Museum of Natural History
Joshua F. Snape: Swedish Museum of Natural History
Jeremy J. Bellucci: Swedish Museum of Natural History
Frédéric Moynier: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité
Arnaud Agranier: Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (UMR CNRS 6538), Université de Bretagne Occidentale et Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer
Bleuenn Gueguen: Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (UMR CNRS 6538), Université de Bretagne Occidentale et Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer
Maria Schönbächler: Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH
Martin Bizzarro: Centre for Star and Planet Formation and Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen

Nature, 2018, vol. 558, issue 7711, 586-589

Abstract: Abstract The formation of a primordial crust is a critical step in the evolution of terrestrial planets but the timing of this process is poorly understood. The mineral zircon is a powerful tool for constraining crust formation because it can be accurately dated with the uranium-to-lead (U–Pb) isotopic decay system and is resistant to subsequent alteration. Moreover, given the high concentration of hafnium in zircon, the lutetium-to-hafnium (176Lu–176Hf) isotopic decay system can be used to determine the nature and formation timescale of its source reservoir1–3. Ancient igneous zircons with crystallization ages of around 4,430 million years (Myr) have been reported in Martian meteorites that are believed to represent regolith breccias from the southern highlands of Mars4,5. These zircons are present in evolved lithologies interpreted to reflect re-melted primary Martian crust 4 , thereby potentially providing insight into early crustal evolution on Mars. Here, we report concomitant high-precision U–Pb ages and Hf-isotope compositions of ancient zircons from the NWA 7034 Martian regolith breccia. Seven zircons with mostly concordant U–Pb ages define 207Pb/206Pb dates ranging from 4,476.3 ± 0.9 Myr ago to 4,429.7 ± 1.0 Myr ago, including the oldest directly dated material from Mars. All zircons record unradiogenic initial Hf-isotope compositions inherited from an enriched, andesitic-like crust extracted from a primitive mantle no later than 4,547 Myr ago. Thus, a primordial crust existed on Mars by this time and survived for around 100 Myr before it was reworked, possibly by impacts4,5, to produce magmas from which the zircons crystallized. Given that formation of a stable primordial crust is the end product of planetary differentiation, our data require that the accretion, core formation and magma ocean crystallization on Mars were completed less than 20 Myr after the formation of the Solar System. These timescales support models that suggest extremely rapid magma ocean crystallization leading to a gravitationally unstable stratified mantle, which subsequently overturns, resulting in decompression melting of rising cumulates and production of a primordial basaltic to andesitic crust6,7.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0222-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:558:y:2018:i:7711:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0222-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0222-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().