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Episodic, mafic crust formation from 4.5 to 2.8 Ga: New evidence from detrital zircons, Slave craton, Canada

^{1 1}University of Wroclaw, Institute of Geological Sciences, Cybulskiego 30, Wroclaw 50-205, Poland
^{2 2}Department of Earth Science, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK
^{3 3}James Cook University, School of Earth & Environmental Science, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
^{4 4}Geoscience Australia, Minerals Division, GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2609, Australia
^{5 5}Swedish Museum of Natural History, Laboratory for Isotope Geology, P.O. Box 50007, Stockholm SE-104 05, Sweden
^{6 6}Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A0E8, Canada

The Hf and ¹⁸O values in detrital zircons from the Slave craton, Canada, indicate three episodes of crust formation between ca. 4.5 and 2.8 Ga, namely at ca. 4.4–4.5 Ga, ca. 3.8 Ga, and ca. 3.4 Ga. Most of the juvenile crust appears to have been mafic in composition, and there is no clear evidence for initial granitic protocrust in the Hadean of the Slave craton. The range of initial Hf values in zircons increases from 3.9 to 2.8 Ga, indicating that both extraction of new material from mantle and reworking of the older crust are important for the secular evolution of the continental crust. A preliminary review of available Hf data in zircons suggests that the three episodes of crust generation may have been of global importance. The mafic crust formed in the Archean and the Hadean was then reworked for at least ~0.5–1.5 b.y., as indicated by data from the Slave craton, Gondwana, and the Limpopo Belt of Africa.

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