Geochemistry

Tectonics

Facies

Plate tectonics

Archean

Subduction

Earth science

Eclogite

Geology

Paleontology

Structural basin

Eclogitization

Metamorphic facies

Metamorphism

Crust

Continental crust

Oceanic crust

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance The onset time of plate tectonics is highly debated in the Earth sciences. A key indicator of modern-style plate tectonics, with deep subduction of oceanic plates, is the presence of eclogite (oceanic crust metamorphosed at high-pressure and low-temperature) in orogenic belts. Since no orogenic eclogites older than 2.1 billion y are currently documented, many scientists argue that modern plate tectonics started only 2.1 billion y ago (Ga). We document an Archean orogenic eclogite, providing robust evidence that subduction of oceanic crust reached to at least 65 to 70 km in depth at circa 2.5 Ga. This extends the known age of subduction-related eclogite-facies metamorphism back 400 My, showing that modern-style plate tectonics operated by the close of the Archean.

Archean eclogite-facies oceanic crust indicates modern-style plate tectonics