The Sm/Nd secular evolution of the continental crust and the depleted mantle

The published Nd isotopic data on rocks representative of either the continental crust or the depleted mantle are used to determine the Sm/Nd evolution of each system through time making allowance for a contribution from a primitive (chondritic) mantle. Screening using the ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio permits data of doubtful significance to be discarded. Mass balance equations describing mantle-crust exchange processes are numerically integrated. They suggest that crustal growth probably occurs through the addition of strongly LREE-enriched magmas derived from the mantle either directly (andesites) or indirectly (rhyolites). If the modern mean ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio of the crust is close to the sediment average (0.11), then progressive enrichment of LREE in the crust and depletion in the depleted mantle has occurred. If this ratio is of 0.13, then it, and the probable depleted-mantle ¹⁴⁷Sm/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio (0.26) have been constant over the last 3.8 Ga. The fraction of the total Nd (exclusive of the primitive mantle) stored in the continental crust has varied from 40% to 50% over the same period.The volume of the continents can have remained constant only if the rate of sediment reinjection into the mantle is 2.5 km³ a⁻¹ or more. For lower, probably more geologically reasonable, reinjection rates, a nearly uniform continent growth rate over the past 3.8 Ga is inferred. In all cases, the depleted mantle is continuously forming from a primitive reservoir.