Séminaire de Thème : Opening atmospheric windows to the Earth’s evolving mantle

Plate tectonics exerts a first order control on Earth’s volatile cycles. Atmospherically-altered surface materials are recycled to the mantle via subduction, while volatiles from the mantle are liberated to the atmosphere via volcanism. This cycle regulates much of Earth’s climate, ocean levels and metallogenetic processes within the continental crust. However, it is uncertain when the balance between volatile cycles and plate tectonics started to operate on Earth. This talk presents a unique approach using a novel technique that assess the fugacity and elemental contents in apatite inclusions shielded in zircon grains to constrain the Earth’s volatile cycle through time.