Dr. Zuo, Jiawei

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Dr. Zuo, Jiawei 

Postdoctoral Fellow

I explore the tectonic evolution of Early Earth. More than 3.2 billion years ago, in contrast to plate tectonics, early Earth may have been evolved via hot stagnant-lid tectonics, where the lithosphere has been a single-plate dominated by volcanic processes. A global plate tectonic network only developed after the mantle sufficiently cooled. To test this hypothesis, I study Earth’s most ancient materials, including minerals and rocks that were formed during the Archean Eon. In particular, I focus on rocks preserved in southwest Greenland (Isua) and northwestern Australia (Pilbara) because they are the best-known rock records of Eoarchean or Paleoarchean, respectively. I use multi-disciplinary approaches coupled with advanced analytical tools (e.g., EBSD, TIMA, SIMS) to constrain their pressure-temperature-time-deformation pathways, thereby testing the tectonic models proposed for these ancient materials.

In addition to early Earth studies, I am also applying my research expertise to modern Earth’s plate tectonic subduction zones, including Himalaya.

Email: jwzuo@connect.hku.hk
 

Selected Publications

  1. Zuo, J., Webb, A.A.G., Piazolo, S., Wang, Q., Müller, T., Ramírez‐Salazar, A., Haproff, P.J., 2021. Tectonics of the Isua Supracrustal Belt 2: Microstructures Reveal Distributed Strain in the Absence of Major Fault Structures. Tectonics 40, e2020TC006514.
  2. Zuo, J., Webb, A.A.G., Johnson, T.E., McKenzie, N.R., Kirkland, C.L., Ng, H.C., Lo, C.Y., 2021. Model versus measured detrital zircon age signatures of the early Earth. Earth Planet Sc Lett 575, 117182.
  3. Ramírez‐Salazar, A., Müller, T., Piazolo, S., Webb, A.A.G., Hauzenberger, C., Zuo, J., Haproff, P., Harvey, J., Wong, T.K., Charlton, C., 2021. Tectonics of the Isua supracrustal belt 1: P‐T‐X‐d constraints of a poly‐metamorphic terrane. Tectonics 40, e2020TC006516.
  4. Webb, A.A.G.*, Müller, T., Zuo, J., Haproff, P.J., Ramírez-Salazar, A., 2020. A non–plate tectonic model for the Eoarchean Isua supracrustal belt. Lithosphere-Us 12, 166-179.​