Are Archean lithospheric keels inverted?

Post-tectonic granite “blooms” in many Archean cratons manifest widespread crustal melting that cannot be explained by lithosphere removal, considering the long-term buoyancy of Archean cratonic keels and low mantle geotherms indicated by Archean diamondiferous lithosphere. Rather, heat may have been transferred from the mantle through a process of lithosphere inversion, driven by basal tractive forces acting on gravitationally unstable lithosphere. The top-heavy cell comprises eclogitic lower crust (ρ = 3500 kg/m3) lying above depleted mantle lithosphere (ρ = 3300 kg/m3), whose aggregate density remained less than that of surrounding asthenosphere (ρ = 3340 kg/m3). Parameterized numerical models of the inversion process show a > 40 m.y. pulse of maximum 1060 °C temperatures in the lower crust, sufficient to drive anhydrous melting, when overturned basal lithosphere reaches the Moho. In equilibrating to lower lithosphere conditions, the eclogitic cap may have yielded siliceous melts that infiltrated overlying, previously depleted mantle, producing the high Si/Mg characteristic of some cratonic peridotites. P–T paths calculated for the central part of the inverting cell criss-cross the graphite-diamond boundary, explaining development of large diamond crystals through numerous growth increments. The craton stabilization process follows terminal tectonism by about 50 m.y. as a result of initial cooling, eclogite formation and lithosphere stiffening. Related consequences in the crust include low-pressure regional metamorphism and widespread hydrothermal effects including some gold mineralization. Craton stability is attributed to the high strength of the depleted mantle lithosphere, its rectified density profile, and the presence of refractory compositions at the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary.