Sheng Shang

Formation of the earliest evolved rocks on terrestrial planets remains poorly understood. The ancient Martian regolith breccia meteorite (MRB) contains feldspar-rich clasts, which could be evolved. Here, we report the first discovery of Martian sarcopside within an igneous clast (CS) of MRB. The mineral assemblage, the presence of sarcopside included in chlorapatite, and the equilibrium temperature of 774 ± 20 °C for plagioclase and alkali feldspar in clast CS collectively demonstrate that this clast crystallized from an evolved magma. A new U-Pb zircon age of 4525 ± 66 Ma places crystallization of these feldspar-bearing clasts within the first ∼100 Myr of Martian crust evolution. Furthermore, the equilibrium temperatures of all 16 two-feldspar-bearing clasts observed in small chips of MRB are < 1000 °C, and half are < 800 °C. The low equilibrium temperatures and mineral assemblages of different clasts are consistent with the interpretation that diverse evolved magmatism could have been present on early Mars. These ancient clasts provide a unique window into the timing and thermal regimes of evolved magmatism within the early Martian crust. More importantly, taken together with evidence from evolved lunar samples and asteroidal meteorites, the evolved lithologies on early Mars inferred from MRB indicate that evolved magmatism may have played an important role in the early Solar system.

Seismological and geodetic data indicate that the lunar core-mantle boundary (CMB) exhibits a well-defined low-velocity zone (LVZ) with a combination of anomalous seismic velocities and density that remain unexplained. Here, in-house high-pressure experiments simulating the interaction between mantle olivine and core iron at CMB conditions in conjunction with thermodynamic modeling demonstrate reactive formation of dense iron-rich magnesiowüstite [Mw, (Fe,Mg)O], a hitherto unrecognized lunar mineral. In-situ synchrotron ultrasonic measurements show that the seismic velocities and density of Mw, when incorporated in realistic proportions of ~5–15 wt% with mantle olivine plus minor silicate melt match the observed LVZ properties. Oxygen exsolution from core metal during cooling is the most likely driver of Mw formation, quantitatively yielding the required Mw proportions in the LVZ. These results suggest that core-mantle reactions can generate magnesiowüstite through oxidation of iron metal, offering a blueprint for the expected seismic properties of the CMB regions of rocky bodies that experience mantle oxidation after core formation.

Granitic rocks dominate Earth’s continental crust, yet the Hadean record is severely limited. Extraterrestrial evolved lithologies, crystallized under predominantly anhydrous, plate tectonics-free conditions analogous to those of early Earth, provide valuable analogues. This review synthesizes lunar, asteroidal, Martian, and candidate Venus/Mercury data, revealing that partial melting of mafic protoliths, not fractional crystallization or silicate liquid immiscibility, represents the dominant formation mechanism. Granitic magmatism persisted episodically from merely 1.11 Myr after Solar System formation through at least 3.87 Ga, with estimated abundances of 0.2%–2% representing a conservative lower limit. These findings imply that Hadean Earth possessed the thermal and compositional prerequisites for analogous magmatism, suggesting that substantial felsic material may have been present, though quantitative estimates remain unwarranted given current data limitations. By establishing a comparative planetary framework, this study illuminates pathways for reconstructing Hadean crustal differential processes, highlighting priorities for future exploration missions targeting cryptic silicic reservoirs, particularly deep-crustal exposures in large lunar impact basins and in situ characterization of Venusian highland terrains.

Granitic rocks dominate Earth's continental crust, yet the Hadean record is severely limited. Extraterrestrial evolved lithologies, crystallized under anhydrous, plate tectonics-free conditions analogous to those of early Earth, provide valuable analogues. This review synthesizes lunar, asteroidal, Martian, and candidate Venus/Mercury data, revealing that partial melting of mafic protoliths, not fractional crystallization or silicate liquid immiscibility, represents the dominant formation mechanism. Granitic magmatism persisted episodically from merely 2.3 Myr after Solar System formation through at least 3.87 Ga, with estimated abundances of 0.2–2% representing a conservative lower limit. These findings imply that Hadean Earth possessed the thermal and compositional prerequisites for analogous magmatism, potentially yielding a crustal inventory of 0.2–40% felsic material. By establishing a comparative planetary framework, this study illuminates pathways for reconstructing Earth's earliest crustal evolution and highlights priorities for future exploration missions targeting cryptic silicic reservoirs, particularly deep-crustal exposures in large lunar impact basins and in situ characterization of Venusian highland terrains.

Large-volume presses (LVPs) are widely utilized in diverse research fields—including high-pressure physics, chemistry, materials science, and Earth and planetary sciences—to investigate the physical and chemical properties of materials under extreme high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. A prerequisite for achieving reproducible property measurements is the determination and control of pressure within experimental setups. However, the lack of precise pressure calibration in LVPs hinders the broader application of such devices in ultrahigh-pressure studies. This study employs a suite of standard phase transition-based pressure markers—comprising metallic conductors, semiconductors, and minerals—through both in situ and ex situ identification approaches, to establish pressure calibration curves ranging from 0.4 to >30 GPa for various types of LVP installed at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), Beijing, including piston–cylinder, cubic, and multi-anvil presses. The results provide a unified and traceable pressure reference for high-pressure experiments conducted at HPSTAR, while also offering technical guidance and calibration standards for other researchers utilizing similar LVP systems, thereby enabling more consistent comparison between different laboratories. This work facilitates the advancement of LVP research toward broader applications in higher-pressure regimes.

The aluminum (Al), lithium (Li) and phosphorus (P) in zircon, combining their partitioning coefficients between zircon and silicate melt, may show important insights into the evolution of Earth’s crust and habitability over geological timescales, but their partitioning coefficients have not been experimentally studied in detail. In this study, we conducted high-temperature experiments to constrain the partition coefficients of Al (DAl), Li (DLi) and P (DP) between zircon and silicate melt. Our experiments firstly show the amounts of P has the identifiable effects on DAl and DLi, but not on itself. The positive and negative correlations of DAl and DLi as P content in zircon increasing enables us to constrain the aluminum saturation index (ASI) and Li content of the parental melt of zircon, respectively, by comparing their contents in zircon. The re-evaluated ASI values over time yields two significant increases at 3.6 Ga and 1.0 Ga, whereas, the calculated Li content of Earth’s crust non-linearly decrease with time. Meanwhile, the P content of early Earth’s crust is constrained to 1779 ppm before 3.0 Ga, similar to the present-day crust level of 2052 ppm. These indicate that the global scale tectonic events occurred on the Earth around 3.6 Ga and 1.0 Ga, and that the early Earth could have had a life habitability, and it did not get receded during the terrestrial crust evolution.

Zircon is an important silicate mineral to help understand the evolution of geochemistry and genesis of magma in early planets. The composition of evolved magma can be deduced from the concentrations of elements in zircon and their partition coefficients between zircon and silicate melt. Although the phosphorus (P) contents range from ~100 to ~100000 ppm in extraterrestrial zircon, the effects of P on REE partition coefficients between zircon and silicate melt are still debated. Here we have studied the effect of P contents on the partition coefficients of elements between zircon and silicate melt using high-temperature experiment. With the increase of phosphorus content, the partition coefficients of alkaline elements and Al between zircon and silicate melt show a negative and positive trend, respectively, and there is no effect on itself and Ti. It is worth mentioning that phosphorus content has a negligible effect on REE partitioning, indicating that the REE partition coefficients in this study can be applied to extraterrestrial zircon even with varying P concentrations. After filtering out altered zircon and combining the experimentally updated partition coefficients of REE, the characteristic of evolved melt equilibrated with early protogenetic zircon can thus be yielded and then help to understand early magmatism on the planets.