Thermal evolution of the Earth as recorded by komatiites

Abstract

Komatiites are rare ultramafic lavas that were produced most commonly during the Archean and Early Proterozoic and less frequently in the Phanerozoic. These magmas provide a record of the thermal and chemical characteristics of the upper mantle through time. The most widely cited interpretation is that komatiites were produced in a plume environment and record high mantle temperatures and deep melting pressures. The decline in their abundance from the Archean to the Phanerozoic has been interpreted as primary evidence for secular cooling (up to 500°C) of the mantle. In the last decade new evidence from petrology, geochemistry and field investigations has reopened the question of the conditions of mantle melting preserved by komatiites. An alternative proposal has been rekindled: that komatiites are produced by hydrous melting at shallow mantle depths in a subduction environment. This alternative interpretation predicts that the Archean mantle was only slightly (∼100°C) hotter than at present and implicates subduction as a process that operated in the Archean. Many thermal evolution and chemical differentiation models of the young Earth use the plume origin of komatiites as a central theme in their model. Therefore, this controversy over the mechanism of komatiite generation has the potential to modify widely accepted views of the Archean Earth and its subsequent evolution. This paper briefly reviews some of the pros and cons of the plume and subduction zone models and recounts other hypotheses that have been proposed for komatiites. We suggest critical tests that will improve our understanding of komatiites and allow us to better integrate the story recorded in komatiites into our view of early Earth evolution.