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Abstract Phosphorites can record oceanic conditions during their deposition, but the faithful retention of primary information in Paleoproterozoic deposits can be mitigated by post‐depositional processes. Here, we examine a peritidal phosphorite within a microbialite reef complex in the 2.4–2.2 Ga Turee Creek Group in Western Australia to assess the environmental information retained. Field mapping and petrography distinguishes between authigenic and locally transported phosphorite fragments, each of which contains unique information regarding the deposit. Elemental mapping and laser‐ablation analyses differentiate the impact of depositional versus early diagenetic versus metamorphic processes within these fragments. Samples within a near‐shore pebble conglomerate have mixed riverine‐oceanic signals and lack cerium anomalies, consistent with the depositional environment. Clasts from off‐shore peloidal grainstone beds retain “hat‐shaped” patterns with small negative cerium anomalies, reflective of transport and redeposition within potentially oxic seawater. U‐Pb isotopic dates range from ∼1.8 to 2.3 Ga and are generally uncorrelated with rare earth element and yttrium data. The youngest date (∼1.8 Ga) is associated with recrystallized apatite, with concave down, middle rare earth element enriched patterns. A potential depositional age, ∼2.3 Ga, is associated with massive apatite in a chert‐rich clast that has rare earth element patterns reflective of riverine‐oceanic signals. Overall, the peritidal system in the reef was dynamic, with potentially oxic seawater that had a strong riverine influence. Local recycling and reworking, early diagenesis, and later orogenic events impacted the preserved geochemical signals and together show that spatially resolved geochronological and geochemical data are ideal for interpreting ancient phosphorites.

Abstract The Acasta Gneiss Complex (AGC) is a ∼2,400 km2 Hadean‐Mesoarchean terrane that contains the oldest known zircon‐bearing rocks on Earth. Despite its importance for early Earth geology, only a small fraction (∼50 km2) of the AGC has been mapped in detail. We use detrital zircon grains from late Pleistocene eskers that transect the Complex to approximate the lateral extent and relative proportions of diverse‐aged ancient rock units within the vast, little‐studied parts of the AGC. The esker sediment was derived from glacially eroded bedrock and therefore zircon grains can serve as a proxy for the ages of exposed bedrock in the study area. U‐Pb dates on ∼2400 detrital zircons from coarse and fine grain‐size fractions along the esker transect yield age distributions that coincide with ages of regionally mapped AGC bedrock, the adjacent Wopmay Orogen, and granitoids of the Slave craton. Based on detrital zircon age distributions and new reconnaissance‐scale mapping, we infer that 3.37 Ga granitoids are a volumetrically significant component of the unmapped AGC. Esker zircons older than 3.7 Ga are present in most esker samples but at low abundance, which suggests that Eoarchean and Hadean rocks are a volumetrically subordinate component of the AGC. However, the data also suggest that unmapped rocks at least as old as 3.95 Ga are present toward the inferred eastern limit of the AGC, a location where Eoarchean rocks have not been recognized previously.

Abstract The evolution of Earth's major geochemical reservoirs over ~4.5 × 109 years remains a matter of intense study. Geochemical tools in the form of short‐lived radionuclide isotope ratios (142Nd/144Nd and 182W/184W) have expanded our understanding of the geochemical variability in both the modern and ancient Earth. Here, we present 142Nd/144Nd and 182W/184W data from a suite of rocks from the Slave craton that formed over a 1.1 × 109 year time span in the Archean. The rocks have consistently high 182W/184W, yet 142Nd/144Nd that is lower than bulk mantle and increased over time. The declining variability in 142Nd/144Nd with time likely reflects the homogenization of compositional heterogeneities in the silicate Earth that were initially created by differentiation events that occurred prior to 4.2 Ga. The elevated 182W/184W recorded in the Slave samples help refine models for the broader W‐isotope evolution of the silicate Earth. Globally, the Archean mantle that formed continental crust was dominated by 182W/184W elevated by some 10–15 ppm compared to the value for the modern upper mantle. The Slave craton lacks significant volumes of komatiite yet has elevated 182W/184W until 2.9 Ga. This observation, combined with the presence of other komatiite suites that have low 182W/184W, suggests that deep‐seated sources contributed low 182W/184W in the Archean Earth. The regional variability in 182W/184W may be explained by invoking chemical and/or isotopic exchange between a well‐mixed silicate Earth and the core or a portion of the lower mantle whose W‐isotope composition has been influenced by interaction with the core.

Abstract The isochron technique for dating geological events is widely used in many fields of isotope geochemistry. However, data sets can be complex, and many samples may not behave as closed systems, resulting in excess scatter around a regression line. In certain data sets, however, excess scatter may result when geological samples are partially reset or when samples are comprised of multiple components recording different geological processes separated in time and/or initial isotope composition. Here we introduce a new approach for investigating evidence of such multicomponent mixtures within isochron space. We provide a mathematical framework to resolve the number of mixture components, without requiring any prior knowledge of this number. Crucially, the model reports the proportion of each individual sample that belongs to each mixture component, allowing the user to return to the samples and independently test model outputs with other techniques. It is important to distinguish accurate and meaningful ages and initial daughter isotope compositions from the meaningless values that are caused by mismatch between geological processes and the models that we use to describe them. First, we demonstrate our new model on a synthetic data set to show that it can successfully separate distinct isochrons in a complex mixture. We further validate our approach with a previously published data set using the 187Re‐187Os system in bitumen and 147Sm/144Nd system in magmatic rocks. We identify discrete components in these data sets and using complementary geological observations discuss the implications of treating these scattered data as recording multiple geological processes.