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cratons

Photo of a rock outcrop
Posted inEditors' Vox

The Seven-Ages of Earth as Seen Through the Continental Lens

by Peter A. Cawood and Priyadarshi Chowdhury 24 February 20236 March 2023

The 4.5-billion-year record contained in Earth’s continental crust reveals a seven-phase evolution, from an initial magma ocean to the present-day environment in which we live.

Diagram showing the reaction process between carbonatite melt and harzburgite mantle rock.
Posted inEditors' Highlights

Why is the North China Craton Vulnerable to Destruction?

by Sujoy Ghosh 20 October 202218 October 2022

A new study suggests that carbonatite metasomatism, not silicate metasomatism as previously thought, was dominant prior to the removal of the North China Craton in the early Cretaceous.

Researchers collect sediments from a rocky stream with a helicopter and steep rock hills in the background
Posted inScience Updates

Earth’s Continents Share an Ancient Crustal Ancestor

by J. Hollis, C. Kirkland, M. Hartnady, M. Barham and A. Steenfelt 23 August 202122 February 2022

How did today’s continents come to be? Geological sleuths found clues in grains of sand.

Photograph of The Great Unconformity visible in The Grand Canyon
Posted inEditors' Highlights

The Great Unconformities?

by Peter van der Beek 3 August 20219 December 2022

New thermochronology data and thermal history modeling from the Canadian Shield show that the Great Unconformity formed there later than elsewhere in North America and may represent another event.

Fishermen work from a small boat on a river in southern India with large boulders in the background
Posted inFeatures

Cratons, Why Are You Still Here?

by J. Paul 25 March 202128 January 2022

How have these continental relics from Earth’s early history survived the plate tectonic mixing machine?

Close-up image of garnet lherzolite
Posted inNews

Modeling the Creation of Cratons, Earth’s Secret Keepers

by Jackie Rocheleau 12 January 20216 September 2022

Geoscientists have long been trying to answer the complicated questions of how and why Earth’s continents formed. New research suggests a solution that surprised even the investigators themselves.

Colored map of cratons and framing sedimentary basins
Posted inNews

Cratons Mark the Spot for Mineral Bonanzas

Bas den Hond, Science Writer by Bas den Hond 11 September 20209 November 2021

A new map of the thickness of Earth’s lithosphere contains clues to large deposits of key metals.

The buildings on Cornell University’s central campus all require heat during the cold winters in Ithaca, N.Y.
Posted inScience Updates

Exploring by Boring: Geothermal Wells as Research Tools

by T. Jordan, P. Fulton, J. Tester, H. Asanuma and D. Bruhn 10 September 20205 December 2022

As part of an effort to develop a geothermal energy source beneath its campus, Cornell University is planning to probe the “boring” old continental crust upon which many people live.

Posted inResearch Spotlights

Variable Mantle Lies Below Ancient Pieces of Earth's Crust

Cody Sullivan by C. Sullivan 16 March 20162 March 2023

Underneath old and stable pieces of Earth's crust in North America, the mantle's uppermost portion contains multiple layers that change the velocities of seismic waves.

Features from AGU Journals

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHTS
Earth’s Future
“How to Build a Climate-Resilient Water Supply”
By Rachel Fritts

EDITORS' HIGHLIGHTS
AGU Advances
“How Do Atmospheric Rivers Respond to Extratropical Variability?”
By Sarah Kang

EDITORS' VOX
Reviews of Geophysics
“Rare and Revealing: Radiocarbon in Service of Paleoceanography”
By Luke C. Skinner and Edouard Bard

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