Detritus (geology) in the context of "Supracrustal rock"

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👉 Detritus (geology) in the context of Supracrustal rock

Supracrustal rocks (supra (Latin for "above")) are rocks that were deposited on the existing basement rocks of the crust, hence the name. They may be further metamorphosed from both sedimentary and volcanic rocks.

The oldest minerals on Earth are detrital zircon grains from the Yilgarn craton in the Mesoarchaean (3.2–2.8 Ga) Jack Hills, Western Australia dated to up to 4.4 Ga, meaning that granitic continental crust and probably supracrustal rocks formed during the Hadean, within 200 million years of Earth accretion. Most Hadean rocks were probably recycled into the mantle before the end of the eon, however, and such pre-4.0 Ga mineral inclusions, the only traces from the earliest rock formation on Earth, are rare.

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