ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes data on the geology and mineral composition of igneous rocks for the whole of the Earth’s history. This systematic overview has enabled the identification of specific features of magmatism at different phases in the Earth’s evolution and the pinpointing of their origin, their mode of occurrence and their relationships with various geodynamic environments from the near and distant past. Four major phases in the history of the Earth: lunar, nuclearic, cratonic and continental–oceanic, are marked by different types of tectonomagmatic activity, pinpointing the main trends of igneous evolution. Most researchers agree that granite–greenstone terranes and the granulite–gneiss belts separating them, apparently large complementary extensional and compressional structures, were typical geological structures. An abrupt change in the development of deep-seated petrogenesis and geodynamics of the Earth’s crust and mantle occurred about 2.2–2.0 Ga ago.
