Abstract Determining when continental masses emerged above the global ocean is crucial to understanding secular changes in crustal and Earth-surface processes. The emergence of continents above sea level provided important sinks for atmospheric CO2, a source of bioavailable P2O5, and initiated the erosional component of the rock cycle. Previous estimates for continental emergence vary widely and depend on complex geochemical proxies. Here, we formulate a testable hypothesis for the behavior of sedimentary systems in a world with flooded vs. emergent continents and employ a simple sample-based analysis of the global detrital-zircon record. Our analysis filters the total detrital zircon database from >600,000 analyses to ∼450,000 analyses, then calculates age distribution metrics for each rock sample containing >40 individual zircon analyses. We show that watersheds with inferred sizes, relative to their host continents, similar to modern ones became common ∼2.8 billion years ago, and that consistent crustal recycling occurred at least since the Neoarchean. In light of the extant geologic record, this analysis suggests that widespread continental emergence began at the end of the Mesoarchean and progressed throughout the Neoarchean. Our analysis therefore provides a novel chronometer to track the emergence of continental-crust throughout Earth's history.

中文翻译：

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全球锆石分析记录了整个新太古代大陆地壳逐渐上升

摘要 确定大陆块何时出现在全球海洋之上对于理解地壳和地表过程的长期变化至关重要。海平面以上大陆的出现为大气 CO2（一种生物可利用的 P2O5 的来源）提供了重要的汇，并引发了岩石循环的侵蚀成分。先前对大陆出现的估计差异很大，并且取决于复杂的地球化学代理。在这里，我们针对大陆被淹没与新兴大陆的世界中沉积系统的行为制定了一个可检验的假设，并对全球碎屑锆石记录进行了基于样本的简单分析。我们的分析将总碎屑锆石数据库从 >600,000 次分析过滤到 ~450,000 次分析，然后计算每个包含 >40 个单独锆石分析的岩石样本的年龄分布指标。我们表明，相对于它们的宿主大陆，推断大小的流域与现代流域相似，在大约 28 亿年前变得普遍，并且至少自新太古代以来就发生了一致的地壳循环。根据现存的地质记录，这一分析表明，广泛的大陆出现始于中太古代末期，并在整个新太古代发展。因此，我们的分析提供了一种新颖的计时器来跟踪整个地球历史上大陆地壳的出现。这一分析表明，广泛的大陆出现始于中太古代末期，并在整个新太古代发展。因此，我们的分析提供了一种新颖的计时器来跟踪整个地球历史上大陆地壳的出现。这一分析表明，广泛的大陆出现始于中太古代末期，并在整个新太古代发展。因此，我们的分析提供了一种新颖的计时器来跟踪整个地球历史上大陆地壳的出现。