Abstract
The thermal state and volatile inventory of the Earth’s mantle changed through time as lithospheric architecture and crustal recycling also evolved. Here, we analyse a global geochemical database of continentally emplaced basalts to explore the reflection of these changes in normative mineralogy. The hypothetically crystallised basalt mineralogy is calculated from all 11 major oxides, affording a whole-rock secular petrological comparison. In the Phanerozoic, normative mineralogy distinguishes between oceanic and continental basalts. Because Precambrian oceanic crust is rarely preserved, the secular analysis was focused on continentally emplaced basalts. Results show that Archaean basalts were dominantly silica-oversaturated and closely resemble modern continental flood basalts. Their normative clinopyroxene-orthopyroxene relationships argue against a dominant hydrous flux-melting origin. Two lulls in Palaeoproterozoic basalt emplacement suggest reduced magma productivity. Alkali-rich, silica-undersaturated basalts were rare in the Archaean, emerged through the Proterozoic, and rose to prominence in the Phanerozoic, supporting a late onset of effective modern-style subduction.
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Data availability
Data underlying all main-text and Supplementary Figs. are provided in the Supplementary Data 1–4. Supplementary datasets have also been deposited in the Figshare repository and are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30386002.
Code availability
All Python scripts used for data analysis and geochemical visualisation are hosted in the GitHub repository (https://github.com/INDeep-earth/roy-2026-basalt-normative-mineralogy.git). The code is released under the MIT open-source license (© 2026 Shubhadeep Roy), permitting use, modification, and distribution without restriction, provided that the original copyright notice and license are retained.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP220100136 to B.S.K. and P.C.H.) and a Queensland University of Technology postgraduate Scholarship to S.R. We thank Andrew Glikson for directing our interest to quartz-normative Archaean basalts and acknowledge Craig O’Neill, Oliver Nebel, and Chris Firth for their insightful feedback on this project. We thank Chris Hawkesworth and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and thoughtful comments, which improved the clarity of the manuscript. We also thank Alireza Bahadori for efficient editorial handling.
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S.R.: Conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, software, validation, visualisation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. B.S.K.: Conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, project administration, funding acquisition, supervision, formal analysis, software, visualisation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. P.C.H.: Conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, project administration, funding acquisition, supervision, formal analysis, software, visualisation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. D.T.M.: Validation and writing—review and editing.
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Communications Earth and Environment thanks Chris Hawkesworth and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Alireza Bahadori. A peer review file is available.
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Roy, S., Kamber, B.S., Hayman, P.C. et al. Tectonic setting and mantle source evolution reconstructed from deep time analysis of basalt geochemistry. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03473-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03473-4
