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Earth’s lithosphere probably experienced an evolution towards the modern plate tectonic regime, owing to secular changes in mantle temperature^,. Radiogenic isotope variations are interpreted as evidence for the declining rates of continental crustal growth over time^,,, with some estimates suggesting that over 70% of the present continental crustal reservoir was extracted by the end of the Archaean eon^,. Patterns of crustal growth and reworking in rocks younger than three billion years (Gyr) are thought to reflect the assembly and break-up of supercontinents by Wilson cycle processes and mark an important change in lithosphere dynamics. In southern West Greenland numerous studies have, however, argued for subduction settings and crust growth by arc accretion back to 3.8 Gyr ago^,,, suggesting that modern-day tectonic regimes operated during the formation of the earliest crustal rock record. Here we report in …