| A fundamental shift in the nature of granitoids occurs at approximately the Archean-Proterozoic boundary. Archean crust is dominated Na-rich tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorites (TTGs), whereas post-Archean granitoids are characterized by K-rich granodiorite-granite (GG). Due to the HREE depletion commonly found in TTGs indicating the presence of residual garnet, many researchers have proposed that the difference in Na/K is related to the deeper melting depth of the TTG parental liquids. Here I present a compilation of the relevant experimental data, documenting that no correlation exists between the Na/K of derivative felsic liquids and the pressure of partial melting/fractional crystallization. Instead, the Na/K ratio of the felsic liquid best correlates with the Na/K ratio of the source. This implies that in Archean time the source material of TTG rocks must have been Na/K enriched relative to the modern. Modern granitoids are dominantly formed in a supra subduction zone environment, where a feedback loop exists between subducted materials (oceanic crust and sediments) and arc magmatism. Sea-floor weathering and the Na/K of the altered oceanic crust strongly depends on f(O2) conditions during alteration, which likely changed with earth history. During alteration under oxidized condition K2O is fixated due to the formation of celadonite (K-Mica), wheres during anoxic condition saponite (Na-Smectite) is the stable alteration mineral. I propose that the rise of oxygen at 2600–2400 Ma triggered associated changes in f(O2) seafloor alteration conditions. The change in the dominant seafloor alteration mineral from reduced to oxidized causes a change in the nature of the arc magma source and provides a possible explanation for the observed transition from TTGrocks in the Archean to the GG-granitoids in post-Archean times. |