EPSL Frontiers: Collection 2004

This second volume of Frontiers articles contains a broad array of fascinating topics. The first four
papers focus on the Sun, the origin of the solar system and the early history of the Earth. The fifth, on komatiites, is also relevant to the early Earth but also forms a nice transition to three articles that focus on subduction and mantle processes. The final three articles focus on changes in our surface environment including biogeochemical cycles, the evolution of hominids and, finally, the future threat posed by near Earth asteroids.

Preface.
Subduction initiation: spontaneous and induced.
How life began on Earth: a status report.
Early Earth differentiation.
Chondrules.
Planetary accretion in the inner Solar System.
The chemistry of subduction-zone fluids.
Solar and solar-wind isotopic compositions.
The importance of ocean temperature to global biogeochemistry.
The hazard of near-Earth asteroid impacts on Earth.
The terrestrial Li isotope cycle: light-weight constraints on mantle convection.
African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene.
Thermal evolution of the Earth as recorded by komatiites.