Term for the Process of the Early Earth's Crust's Changing Mineral Composition In the book, Story of Earth-The First 4.5 Billion Years, From Stardust to Living Planet, by Robert Hazen, Chapter 3: He discusses the changing mineral composition of the early Earth's crust from continuous heating, cooling, sinking, and remelting. From mafic magnesium rich dunite, anorthite, pyroxene, peridotite, on to today's predominant more felsic silicon enriched basalt and granite/rhyolite.
As a book directed at laymen, like myself, he does not mention a term for this process of decomposition of the Earth's early crust.
My question then is: What is the term for the process of the early Earth's crust to change its mineral composition over many cycles of melting, rising, cooling and sinking?
Thank you.
The term you are searching for is differentiation. In Early Earth the Crust was mafic. Remelting cycles created an enrichment in silica and alkali elements, forming basalts and granites.
As it happens on Continental Crust it is commonly referred as Differentiation of the Continental Crust.
Hacker, B.R. et al (2011): &quot;Differentiation of the continental crust by relamination&quot;,
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 307, Issues 3â€“4, Pages 501-516, ISSN 0012-821X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.05.024.