Early Earth Systems: A Geochemical Approach

Early Earth Systems provides a complete history of the Earth from its beginnings to the end of the Archaean. This journey through the Earth's early history begins with the Earth's origin, then examines the evolution of the mantle, the origin of the continental crust, the origin and evolution of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, and ends with the origin of life.

Examining the evidence for the Earth's very early differentiation into core, mantle, crust, atmosphere, and oceans, Early Earth Systems looks at how this differentiation saw extreme interactions within the Earth system. The extent to which such interactions continued throughout the Archaean is discussed within the framework of the Earth System Science paradigm, providing a qualitative assessment of the principal reservoirs and fluxes in the early Earth.

This book provides an essential overview of the early history of the Earth and of Archaean Earth processes for advanced undergraduates in Earth Sciences and for postgraduate students and researchers interested in the early Earth. It will also be valuable to environmental scientists, biologists, and planetary scientists.