Direct age constraints on the magnetism of Jack Hills zircon

<jats:p>A potential record of Earth’s magnetic field going back 4.2 billion years (Ga) ago is carried by magnetite inclusions in zircon grains from the Jack Hills. This magnetite may be secondary in nature, however, meaning that the magnetic record is much younger than the zircon crystallizati...

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מידע ביבליוגרפי
Main Authors: Taylor, Richard JM, Reddy, Steven M, Saxey, David W, Rickard, William DA, Tang, Fengzai, Borlina, Cauê S, Fu, Roger R, Weiss, Benjamin P, Bagot, Paul, Williams, Helen M, Harrison, Richard J
מחברים אחרים: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
פורמט: Article
שפה:English
יצא לאור: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2023
גישה מקוונת:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/148209
תיאור
סיכום:<jats:p>A potential record of Earth’s magnetic field going back 4.2 billion years (Ga) ago is carried by magnetite inclusions in zircon grains from the Jack Hills. This magnetite may be secondary in nature, however, meaning that the magnetic record is much younger than the zircon crystallization age. Here, we use atom probe tomography to show that Pb-bearing nanoclusters in magnetite-bearing Jack Hills zircons formed during two discrete events at 3.4 and &lt;2 Ga. The older population of clusters contains no detectable Fe, whereas roughly half of the younger population of clusters is Fe bearing. This result shows that the Fe required to form secondary magnetite entered the zircon sometime after 3.4 Ga and that remobilization of Pb and Fe during an annealing event occurred more than 1 Ga after deposition of the Jack Hills sediment at 3 Ga. The ability to date Fe mobility linked to secondary magnetite formation provides new possibilities to improve our knowledge of the Archean geodynamo.</jats:p>