Prolonged super-orogens during Gondwana assembly contributed to the formation of a habitable Earth: Insights from big data

Abstract

Since the initiation of plate tectonics on Earth, the evolution of tectonic regime and supercontinent cycles (Nuna, Rodinia and Pangea) have been the first order factors that contributed to Earth surficial environmental changes and thus development of Earth habitability. In particular, the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian eras recorded dramatic evolution in solid earth and surficial systems, including the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent and the assembly of the Gondwana (680-430 Ma) landmasses, the Neoproterozoic Oxidation Event (NOE) and Cambrian life diversification. However, the key tectonic factors that were responsible for the evolution of Earth surficial systems during this period remain highly debated and are largely confined to conceptual models. The authors reconstructed the temporal trends of continental orogenic belts, using detrital zircon europium anomalies (Eu/Eu*) and orogen length big data database. The quantitative results indicate that the sustained orogens over 200 Ma formed prolonged super-mountains during the Gondwana assembly period. This might have occurred due to the initiation of modern type plate tectonic regime since the Neoproterozoic time, which allowed large-scale continental deep-subduction for the first time in Earth history. This coincides well with the large-scale Himalaya type collision orogenic belt during Gondwana assembly, along with the sudden drops of the global thermobaric ratio (T/P) and the large-scale occurrence of high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism. This suggests that orogenic elevation and scales were comparable to those of modern Earth. The high topographic relief of terrestrial systems during this time likely resulted in intense weathering and erosion of low-latitude orogenic belts, supplying huge continental sediments to the ocean, consistent with the seawater Sr isotope variation. Huge sediments and nutrients supply profoundly changed ocean composition and increased ocean productivity, triggering Neoproterozoic oxygenation events and providing environmental triggers for the Ediacaran-Cambrian explosion. Overall, multiple factors, with orogens being the most important one, contributed to the genetic, environmental and ecological conditions for Ediacaran life radiation and Cambrian life explosion.

Keywords

Habitable Earth / Gondwana / Super-orogens / Volcanic activity / Big data / Modern Plate tectonics / Duality of continental and oceanic crust / Nutrients / Ocean productivity / Ediacaran life radiation / Cambrian life explosion

References

[1] Airy GB. 1855. On the computation of the effect of the attraction of mountain-masses, as disturbing the apparent astronomical latitude of stations in geodetic surveys. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 145, 101-104. doi: 10.1098/rstl.1855.0003.

[2] Badgley C. 2010. Tectonics, topography, and mammalian diversity. Ecography, 33, 220-231. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06282.x.

[3] Bednarick AL, Bucholz CE, DePaolo DJ, Stolper DA. 2024. Temporal covariation of island arc Sr isotopes and seawater chemistry over the past 2 billion years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(43), e2401832121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2401832121.

[4] Bowie W. 1926. Notes on the Airy or “Roots of Mountains” Theory. Science, 63(1632), 371-374. doi: 10.1126/science.63.1632.371.

[5] Brown M, Kirkland CL, Johnson TE. 2020. Evolution of geodynamics since the Archean: Significant change at the dawn of the Phanerozoic. Geology, 48(5), 488-492. doi: 10.1130/G47417.1.

[6] Campbell IH, Allen CM. 2008. Formation of supercontinents linked to increases in atmospheric oxygen. Nature Geoscience, 1(8), 554-558. doi: 10.1038/ngeo259.

[7] Campbell IH, Squire RJ. 2010. The mountains that triggered the Late Neoproterozoic increase in oxygen: The Second Great Oxidation Event. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 74, 4187-4206. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2010.04.064.

[8] Cao JH, Wu X, Huang F, Hu B, Groves C, Yang H, Zhang CL. 2018. Global significance of the carbon cycle in the karst dynamic system: Evidence from geological and ecological processes. China Geology, 1(1), 17-27. doi: 10.31035/cg2018004.

[9] Cawood PA. 2020. Earth Matters: A tempo to our planet’s evolution. Geology, 48(5), 525-526. doi: 10.1130/focus052020.1.

[10] Cawood PA, Martin EL, Murphy JB, Pisarevsky SA. 2021. Gondwana’s interlinked peripheral orogens. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 568, 117057 doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117057.

[11] Cawood PA, Strachan RA, Pisarevsky SA, Gladkochub DP, Murphy JB. 2016. Linking collisional and accretionary orogens during Rodinia assembly and breakup: Implications for models of supercontinent cycles. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 449, 118-126. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.05.049.

[12] Christensen NI, Mooney WD. 1995. Seismic velocity structure and composition of the continental crust: A global view. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 100(B6), 9761-9788. doi: 10.1029/95JB00259.

[13] Coltice N, Husson L, Faccenna C, Arnould M. 2019. What drives tectonic plates? Science Advances, 5(10), eaax4295. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax4295

[14] Condie KC, Aster RC, Van Hunen J. 2016. A great thermal divergence in the mantle beginning 2.5 Ga: Geochemical constraints from greenstone basalts and komatiites. Geoscience Frontiers, 7(4), 543-553. doi: 10.1016/j.gsf.2016.01.006.

[15] Cox GM, Halverson GP, Stevenson RK, Vokaty M, Poirier A, Kunzmann M, Li ZX, Denyszyn SW, Strauss JV, Macdonald FA. 2016. Continental flood basalt weathering as a trigger for Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 446, 89-99. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2016.04.016.

[16] Darroch SAF, Smith EF, Laflamme M, Erwin DH. 2018. Ediacaran extinction and Cambrian explosion. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 33(9), 653-663. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.06.003.

[17] Dodd MS, Shi W, Li C, Zhang Z, Cheng M, Gu H, Hardisty DS, Loyd SJ, Wallace MW, vS. Hood A, Mills BJW, Poulton SW, Lyons TW. Lamothe K, 2023. Uncovering the Ediacaran phosphorus cycle. Nature, 618(7967), 974-980. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06077-6.

[18] Edgar A, Sanislav IV, Dirks PHGM, Spandler C. 2022. Metamorphic diamond from the northeastern margin of Gondwana: Paradigm shifting implications for one of Earth’s largest orogens. Science Advances, 8(27), eabo2811. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo2811.

[19] Elez J, Silva PG, Martínez-Graña AM. 2020. Quantification of erosion and uplift in a rising orogen —A large-scale perspective (Late Tortonian to present): The case of the Gibraltar Arc, Betic Cordillera, Southern Spain. Remote Sensing, 12(21), 3492. doi: 10.3390/rs12213492.

[20] Ernst RE, Bond DPG, Zhang SH, Buchan KL, Grasby SE, Youbi N, Bilali HE, Bekker A, Doucet LS. 2021. Large igneous province record through time and implications for secular environmental changes and geological time-scale boundaries. In Large Igneous Provinces: A Driver of Global Environmental and Biotic Changes, 1-26. doi:10.1002/9781119507444.ch1

[21] Geng Y, Shen Q, Song H. 2018. Metamorphic petrology and geology in China: A review. China Geology, 1(1), 137-157. doi: 10.31035/cg2018012.

[22] Gernon TM, Hincks TK, Tyrrell T, Rohling EJ, Palmer MR. 2016. Snowball Earth ocean chemistry driven by extensive ridge volcanism during Rodinia breakup. Nature Geoscience, 9(3), 242-248. doi: 10.1038/ngeo2632.

[23] Gratton J. 1989. Crustal shortening, root spreading, isostasy, and the growth of orogenic belts: A dimensional analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 15627-15634. doi: 10.1029/JB094iB11p15627.

[24] Gray D, Foster D, Meert J, Goscombe B, Armstrong R, Trouw RA, Passchier C. 2008. A Damara orogen perspective on the assembly of Southwestern Gondwana. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 294, 257-278. doi:10.1144/SP294.14

[25] Hoffman PF, Abbot DS, Ashkenazy Y, Benn DI, Brocks JJ, Cohen PA, Cox GM, Creveling JR, Donnadieu Y, Erwin DH, Fairchild IJ, Ferreira D, Goodman JC, Halverson GP, Jansen MF, Le Hir G, Love GD, Macdonald FA, Maloof AC, Partin CA, Ramstein G, Rose BEJ, Rose CV, Sadler PM, Tziperman E, Voigt A, Warren SG. 2017. Snowball Earth climate dynamics and Cryogenian geology-geobiology. Science Advances, 3(11), e1600983. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1600983.

[26] Holder RM, Viete DR, Brown M, Johnson TE. 2019. Metamorphism and the evolution of plate tectonics. Nature, 572(7769), 378-381. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1462-2.

[27] Höning D, Spohn T. 2016. Continental growth and mantle hydration as intertwined feedback cycles in the thermal evolution of Earth. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 255, 27-49. doi: 10.1016/j.pepi.2016.03.010.

[28] Horton F. 2015. Did phosphorus derived from the weathering of large igneous provinces fertilize the Neoproterozoic ocean? Geochemistry, 16, 1723-1738. doi:10.1002/2015GC005792

[29] Huang KJ, Teng FZ, Shen B, Xiao S, Lang X, Ma HR, Fu Y, Peng Y. 2016. Episode of intense chemical weathering during the termination of the 635 Ma Marinoan glaciation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(52), 14904-14909. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1607712113.

[30] Kennedy M, Christi-Blick N, Prave AR. 2001. Carbon isotopic composition of Neoproterozoic glacial carbonates as a test of paleoceanographic models for snowball Earth phenomena. Geology, 29, 1135-1138. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)0292.0.CO;2.

[31] Knoll AH, Nowak MA. 2017. The timetable of evolution. Science Advances, 3(5), e1603076. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1603076.

[32] Korenaga J. 2018. Crustal evolution and mantle dynamics through Earth history. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 376( 2132), 20170408. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0408.

[33] Li ZX, Evans DAD, Halverson GP. 2013. Neoproterozoic glaciations in a revised global palaeogeography from the breakup of Rodinia to the assembly of Gondwanaland. Sedimentary Geology, 294, 219-232. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2013.05.016.

[34] Liu L, Zhang JF, Cao YT, Green HW, Yang WQ, Xu HJ, Liao XY, Kang L. 2018. Evidence of former stishovite in UHP eclogite from the South Altyn Tagh, western China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 484, 353-362. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.12.023.

[35] Lyons TW, Diamond CW, Planavsky NJ, Reinhard CT, Li C. 2021. Oxygenation, life, and the planetary system during Earth’s middle history: An overview. Astrobiology, 21, 906-923. doi: 10.1089/ast.2020.2418.

[36] Lyons TW, Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ. 2014. The rise of oxygen in Earth’s early ocean and atmosphere. Nature, 506(7488), 307-315. doi: 10.1038/nature13068.

[37] McKenzie NR, Smye AJ, Hegde VS, Stockli DF. 2018. Continental growth histories revealed by detrital zircon trace elements: A case study from India. Geology, 46(3), 275-278. doi: 10.1130/g39973.1.

[38] Meert JG, Lieberman BS. 2008. The Neoproterozoic assembly of Gondwana and its relationship to the Ediacaran-Cambrian radiation. Gondwana Research, 14(1), 5-21. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2007.06.007.

[39] Merdith AS, Williams SE, Collins AS, Tetley MG, Mulder JA, Blades ML, Young A, Armistead SE, Cannon J, Zahirovic S, Müller RD. 2021. Extending full-plate tectonic models into deep time: Linking the Neoproterozoic and the Phanerozoic. Earth-Science Reviews, 214, 103477. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103477.

[40] Mills BJW, Krause AJ, Scotese CR, Hill DJ, Shields GA, Lenton TM. 2019. Modelling the long-term carbon cycle, atmospheric CO₂, and Earth surface temperature from Late Neoproterozoic to present day. Gondwana Research, 67, 172-186. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2018.12.001.

[41] Mills BJW, Scotese CR, Walding NG, Shields GA, Lenton TM. 2017. Elevated CO₂ degassing rates prevented the return of Snowball Earth during the Phanerozoic. Nature Communications, 8(1), 1110. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01456-w.

[42] Mitchell RN, Zhang N, Salminen J, Liu Y, Spencer CJ, Steinberger B, Murphy JB, Li ZX. 2021. The supercontinent cycle. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 2(5), 358-374. doi: 10.1038/s43017-021-00160-0.

[43] Nance RD, Murphy JB, Santosh M. 2014. The supercontinent cycle: A retrospective essay. Gondwana Research, 25(1), 4-29. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2012.12.026.

[44] Och LM, Shields-Zhou GA. 2012. The Neoproterozoic oxygenation event: Environmental perturbations and biogeochemical cycling. Earth-Science Reviews, 110(1), 26-57. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.09.004.

[45] Oriolo S, Oyhantçabal P, Wemmer K, Siegesmund S. 2017. Contemporaneous assembly of Western Gondwana and final Rodinia break-up: Implications for the supercontinent cycle. Geoscience Frontiers, 8(6), 1431-1445. doi: 10.1016/j.gsf.2017.01.009.

[46] Pratt JH. 1855. On the attraction of the Himalaya Mountains, and of the elevated regions beyond them, upon the plumb-line in India. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 145, 53-100. doi: 10.1098/rstl.1855.0002.

[47] Puetz SJ, Spencer CJ, Condie KC, Roberts NMW. 2024. Enhanced U-Pb detrital zircon, Lu-Hf zircon, δ¹⁸O zircon, and Sm-Nd whole rock global databases. Scientific Data, 11(1), 56. doi: 10.1038/s41597-023-02902-9.

[48] Renschler CS, Doyle MW, Thoms M. 2007. Geomorphology and ecosystems: Challenges and keys for success in bridging disciplines. Geomorphology, 1-8. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.07.011

[49] Riebe CS, Kirchner JW, Finkel RC. 2004. Erosional and climatic effects on long-term chemical weathering rates in granitic landscapes spanning diverse climate regimes. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 224(3), 547-562. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2004.05.019.

[50] Salles T, Husson L, Lorcery M, Hadler Boggiani B. 2023. Landscape dynamics and the Phanerozoic diversification of the biosphere. Nature, 624(7990), 115-121. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06777-z.

[51] Santosh M, Maruyama S, Sawaki Y, Meert JG. 2014. The Cambrian explosion: Plume-driven birth of the second ecosystem on Earth. Gondwana Research, 25(3), 945-965. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2013.03.013.

[52] Schmitt RdS, Fragoso RdA, Collins AS. 2018. Suturing Gondwana in the Cambrian:The orogenic events of the final amalgamation. In: Siegesmund S, Basei M, Oyhantçabal P,Oriolo S (eds). Geology of Southwest Gondwana. Regional Geology Reviews. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-68920-3_15

[53] Shields GA. 2007. A normalised seawater strontium isotope curve: Possible implications for Neoproterozoic-Cambrian weathering rates and the further oxygenation of the Earth. Earth, 2, 35-42. doi: 10.5194/ee-2-35-2007.

[54] Shields GA, Mills BJW, Zhu M, Raub TD, Daines SJ, Lenton TM. 2019. Unique Neoproterozoic carbon isotope excursions sustained by coupled evaporite dissolution and pyrite burial. Nature Geoscience, 12(10), 823-827. doi: 10.1038/s41561-019-0434-3.

[55] Shields-Zhou GA, Och LM. 2011. The case for a Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event: Geochemical evidence and biological consequences. Gsa Today, 21, 4-11. doi: 10.1130/GSATG102A.1.

[56] Shu DG, Han J. 2020. Core value of the Chengjiang fauna: Formation of the animal kingdom and the birth of basic human organs. Earth Science Frontiers, 27(6), 382-412 doi: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.10.28. (in Chinese with English abstract).

[57] Shu DG, Luo HL, Conway Morris S, Zhang XL, Hu SX, Chen L, Han J, Zhu M, Li Y, Chen LZ. 1999. Lower Cambrian vertebrates from south China. Nature, 402(6757), 42-46. doi: 10.1038/46965.

[58] Sizova E, Gerya T, Brown M. 2014. Contrasting styles of Phanerozoic and Precambrian continental collision. Gondwana Research, 25(2), 522-545. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2012.12.011.

[59] Sobolev SV, Brown M. 2019. Surface erosion events controlled the evolution of plate tectonics on Earth. Nature, 570(7759), 52-57. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1258-4.

[60] Spencer CJ, Roberts NMW, Santosh M. 2017. Growth, destruction, and preservation of Earth’s continental crust. Earth-Science Reviews, 172, 87-106. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.07.013.

[61] Squire RJ, Campbell IH, Allen CM, Wilson CJL. 2006. Did the Transgondwanan Supermountain trigger the explosive radiation of animals on Earth? Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 250(1), 116-133. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.07.032

[62] Stern RJ. 2020. The Mesoproterozoic Single-Lid Tectonic Episode: Prelude to modern plate tectonics. Gsa Today, 30, 4-10. doi: 10.1130/GSATG480A.1.

[63] Tang M, Chen H, Lee C-TA, Cao W. 2024. Subaerial crust emergence hindered by phase-driven lower crust densification on early Earth. Science Advances, 10(37), eadq1952. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adq1952.

[64] Tang M, Chu X, Hao J, Shen B. 2021. Orogenic quiescence in Earth’s middle age. Science, 371(6530), 728-731. doi: 10.1126/science.abf1876.

[65] Tang M, Ji WQ, Chu X, Wu A, Chen C. 2020. Reconstructing crustal thickness evolution from europium anomalies in detrital zircons. Geology, 49(1), 76-80. doi: 10.1130/g47745.1.

[66] Van Thienen P, van den Berg AP, Vlaar NJ. 2004. Production and recycling of oceanic crust in the early Earth. Tectonophysics, 386(1), 41-65. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2004.04.027.

[67] Whitehead JA, Clift PD. 2009. Continent elevation, mountains, and erosion: Freeboard implications. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 114(B5). doi:10.1029/2008JB006176

[68] Williams JJ, Mills BJW, Lenton TM. 2019. A tectonically driven Ediacaran oxygenation event. Nature Communications, 10(1), 2690. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-10286-x.

[69] Wood R, Liu AG, Bowyer F, Wilby PR, Dunn FS, Kenchington CG, Cuthill JFH, Mitchell EG, Penny A. 2019. Integrated records of environmental change and evolution challenge the Cambrian Explosion. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(4), 528-538. doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-0821-6.

[70] Yakymchuk C, Holder R, Kendrick J, Moyen JF. 2023. Europium anomalies in zircon: A signal of crustal depth? Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 622, 118405. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118405

[71] Yang JS, Dobrzhinetskaya L, Bai WJ, Fang QS, Robinson PT, Zhang J, Green HW II. 2007. Diamond- and coesite-bearing chromitites from the Luobusa ophiolite, Tibet. Geology, 35(10), 875-878. doi: 10.1130/g23766a.1.

[72] Yao JL, Cawood PA, Shu L, Zhao GC. 2019. Jiangnan orogen, South China: A about 970-820 Ma Rodinia margin accretionary belt. Earth-Science Reviews, 196, 102872. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.05.016.

[73] Yao JL, Cawood PA, Zhao GC, Han YG, Xia XP, Liu Q, Wang P. 2021. Mariana-type ophiolites constrain the establishment of modern plate tectonic regime during Gondwana assembly. Nature Communications, 12(1), 4189. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24422-z.

[74] Yuan XP, Li YQ, Brune S, Li K, Pons M, Wolf SG. 2024. Coordination between deformation, precipitation, and erosion during orogenic growth. Nature Communications, 15(1), 10362. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54690-4.

[75] Zerkle AL. 2018. Biogeodynamics: Bridging the gap between surface and deep Earth processes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 376( 2132), 20170401. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0401.

[76] Zhang XL, Shu DG. 2014. Causes and consequences of the Cambrian explosion. Science China Earth Sciences, 57(5), 930-942. doi: 10.1007/s11430-013-4751-x.

[77] Zhao GC, Cawood PA, Wilde SA, Sun M. 2002. Review of global 2.1-1.8 Ga orogens: Implications for a pre-Rodinia supercontinent. Earth-Science Reviews, 59(1), 125-162. doi:10.1016/S0012-8252(02)00073-9

[78] Zhao GC, Wang Y, Huang B, Dong Y, Li S, Zhang G, Yu S. 2018. Geological reconstructions of the East Asian blocks: From the breakup of Rodinia to the assembly of Pangea. Earth-Science Reviews, 186, 262-286. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.10.003.

[79] Zhao M, Mills BJW, Poulton SW, Wan B, Xiao KQ, Guo L, Guo Z. 2024. Drivers of the global phosphorus cycle over geological time. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5(12), 873-889. doi: 10.1038/s43017-024-00603-4.

[80] Zhao ZB, Li C, Ma XX. 2021. How does the elevation changing response to crustal thickening process in the central Tibetan Plateau since 120 Ma? China Geology, 4(1), 32-43. doi:10.31035/cg2021013.