Barry B. Hanan

Lead and Helium Isotope Evidence from Oceanic Basalts for a Common Deep Source of Mantle Plumes

Linear arrays in lead isotope space for mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) converge on a single end-member component that has intermediate lead, strontium, and neodymium isotope ratios compared with the total database for oceanic island basalts (OIBs) and MORBs. The MORB data are consistent with the presence of a common mantle source region for OIBs that is sampled by mantle plumes. 3He/4He ratios for MORBs show both positive and negative correlation with the 206Pb/204Pb ratios, depending on the MORB suite. These data suggest that the common mantle source is located in the transition zone region. This region contains recycled, oceanic crustal protoliths that incorporated some continental lead before their subduction during the past 300 to 2000 million years.

Nd-Sr-Pb isotopic variations along the Gulf of Aden: Evidence for Afar Mantle Plume-Continental Lithosphere Interaction

We report on the rare earth and Nd-Sr-Pb isotopic composition of basalts dredged along the Sheba Ridge axis in the Gulf of Aden and its extension into the Gulf of Tadjoura and subaerial basalts from the Ardoukoba Rift in east Afar. The sampling profile provides a means to study the evolutionary nature of the mantle sources involved in the melting process associated with the interaction of the head of a starting mantle plume with continental lithosphere and an ocean basin at a nascent stage of formation. An 800-km-long Nd-Sr-Pb isotopic and La/Sm gradient, sinusoidally modulated, is apparent from the Afar eastward. The first enrichment peak occurs in the Gulf of Tadjoura, where diffuse extension of the Danakil-Aisha continental lithospheric block and westward rift propagation is currently progressing. The second enrichment peak at 46°E is associated with a mantle buoyancy anomaly and related constructional volcanism. East of 48°E, the MORBs are typically light rare earth element depleted, whereas 206Pb/204Pb and 87Sr/86Sr slightly increase, suggesting recent decoupling. In Nd-Sr-Pb isotope ratio space, three distinct vector trends are observed within a plane. The mixing vectors point toward three mantle source end-members which can be interpreted as Pan-African continental lithosphere along the Gulf of Tadjoura (a hybrid EM-l-EM-2), a mantle plume (relatively young HIMU-like) which dominates the 46°E anomaly, and the depleted asthenosphere east of 48°E (DUPAL-like). Combined data from the Gulf of Aden-Red Sea-Afar-Ethiopian rifted zones suggest a radial pattern of geochemical and isotopic variation about the Afar. A working dynamical-thermal model is presented for the past 30–40 m.y. history of the Horn of Africa. It invokes both passive rifting/seafloor spreading in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden and the flattening and interaction of the starting head of a toruslike thermal mantle plume with the Pan-African continental lithosphere which is slowly moving northeastward with the plume head attached at its base. The plume flattened into a pancakelike form, twice the diameter of the original head which is estimated to be of the order of 700 km in diameter. The thinning of the lithosphere by stretching and thermal erosion by the mantle plume has not yet been completed. A working ternary mixing model constrained by the isotope data indicates that within the 800–1000 km radius of influence of the Afar mantle plume, melting of the lithosphere mantle and the depleted asthenosphere apparently entrained by the ascending mantle plume dominates initially. Only along the three rifting zones intersecting the flattened plume ring, 450±150 km in radius, composed of original HIMU-like plume material does the original plume component play a more dominant role. Judging from the spatial isotopic composition variation of the basalts, the plume torus may be apparent along (1) the 46°E Gulf of Aden anomaly where seafloor spreading is now well established; (2) the 13°–16°N southern Red Sea segment, which represents a rift zone at a transient stage of either development or abandonment (overlapping with the Afar NW neovolcanic zone), where ocean island alkali volcanism dominates and diffuse lithosphere extension may still operate; (3) the high alkaline field of the Aden Volcanic Series; and (4) the Ethiopian Rift around 8°N in a purely continental setting. The NW Afar neovolcanic zone, which is essentially at a nascent stage of seafloor spreading and is overlapping the ring and the center of the pancakelike flattened mantle plume, is dominated by tholeiites derived from depleted asthenospheric material entrained by the plume during its original ascent. Plate reconstructions further suggest that the original center of the flattened mantle plume head has moved with the lithosphere some 900 km northeastward. The stem feeder of the plume has now been drawn or tilted toward the Afar as a result of the migration of the Gulf of Aden/Red Sea spreading centers which act as sinks of asthenospheric material and the likelihood that the feeder of the mantle plume is encountering with time an African lithosphere increasing in age, thickness, and rigidity.

Contrasting origins of the upper mantle revealed by hafnium and lead isotopes from the Southeast Indian Ridge

The origin of the isotopic signature of Indian mid-ocean ridge basalts has remained enigmatic, because the geochemical composition of these basalts is consistent either with pollution from recycled, ancient altered oceanic crust and sediments, or with ancient continental crust or lithosphere. The radiogenic isotopic signature may therefore be the result of contamination of the upper mantle by plumes containing recycled altered ancient oceanic crust and sediments, detachment and dispersal of continental material into the shallow mantle during rifting and breakup of Gondwana, or contamination of the upper mantle by ancient subduction processes. The identification of a process operating on a scale large enough to affect major portions of the Indian mid-ocean ridge basalt source region has been a long-standing problem. Here we present hafnium and lead isotope data from across the Indian–Pacific mantle boundary at the Australian–Antarctic discordance region of the Southeast Indian Ridge, which demonstrate that the Pacific and Indian upper mantle basalt source domains were each affected by different mechanisms. We infer that the Indian upper-mantle isotope signature in this region is affected mainly by lower continental crust entrained during Gondwana rifting, whereas the isotope signature of the Pacific upper mantle is influenced predominantly by ocean floor subduction-related processes.

SrNdPb geochemical morphology between 10° and 17°N on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: A new MORB isotope signature

Basalts dredged along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge axis between 10°N and 17°N have been studied for their trace element characteristics [1]. To give complementary information on mantle source history and magma genesis, these samples have been analysed for their SrNdPb isotopic compositions. There is a good correlation between the structure of the ridge axis which shows a topographic anomaly centered around 14°N and hygromagmaphile element ratios such as Rb/Sr, (Nb/Zr)N or Sm/Nd as well as isotopic ratios plotted as a function of latitude. The samples coming from the 14°N topographic high show new MORB SrNd isotopic characteristics which pictured in a classical mantle array diagram, put their representative points close to HIMU sources of ocean islands such as St. Helena, Tubuaiand Mangaia. The 14°N mantle source presents geochemical characteristics which indicate mantle differentiation processes and a mantle history that are more distinct than so far envisaged from typical MORB data. Pb data indicates that the 14°N mantle source cannot be the result of binary mixing between a depleted mantle and a HIMU-type source. Rather, the enriched endmember could itself be a mixture of Walvis-like and HIMU-like materials. The geochimical observations presented favour the model of an incipient ridge-centered plume, in agreement with [1].

Helium isotope composition of the early Iceland mantle plume inferred from the Tertiary picrites of West Greenland

Picrites from the 61 million year old Vaigat Formation of the Nuussuaq Peninsula in West Greenland have 3 He= 4 He ratios trapped in olivine phenocrysts which range up to 30 times the atmospheric ratio. These high values, measured during gas extraction by crushing in vacuum, are similar to the highest magmatic 3 He= 4 He ratios found in young terrestrial volcanic rocks. By analogy with young basalts, in which crushing selectively extracts magmatic helium, any significant cosmogenic 3 He appears to be absent in these picrites. Additional evidence for the absence of cosmogenic helium is provided by fusion results on the crushed olivine powders and by a single stepwise crushing experiment, in which only magmatic and radiogenic helium components are resolvable. The West Greenland picrites have Pb, Nd and Sr isotope compositions which overlap those found in picrites from Iceland and in basalts from Loihi Seamount, localities which today also have high 3 He= 4 He ratios. Isotopic variations in He, Pb, Nd and Sr for the West Greenland picrites are interpreted to largely result from interaction of the early Iceland mantle plume with the upper mantle during plume ascent and dispersion beneath the continental lithosphere. The presence of high 3 He= 4 He ratios in West Greenland, and the onset of magmatism across the North Atlantic Volcanic Province near 62 Ma, supports the hypothesis for very rapid dispersion (> 1m =year) of mantle plume head material during the earliest stages of plume impact, as predicted in recent numerical simulations of plume behavior during thermal mantle convection with non-Newtonian rheology.

THE DYNAMIC EVOLUTION OF THE ICELAND MANTLE PLUME : THE LEAD ISOTOPE PERSPECTIVE

We report Pb isotope compositions of 42 Tertiary basalts from two widely separated paleo-rift zones from eastern and western Iceland spanning the age range 15.3-2.7 Ma. These samples have previously been well characterized in terms of major and trace element compositions, igneous and zeolite metamorphic petrography, KAr ages, and paleo-magnetostratigraphy. The Pb isotope temporal variation is smooth and cyclic. A maximum in radiogenic Pb is observed around 7–8 Ma, which is coincident in time with maxima in the volcanic production rates on Iceland and along the Reykjanes Ridge. In Pb isotope space the Iceland Tertiary basalts do not fit a binary mixing model between the depleted MORB source and a single radiogenic plume source, as previously suggested by LaSm and 87Sr86Sr variations. A third EM-I type component, apparently entrained by the206Pb-rich plume, is suggested. We show that the discrepancy simply reflects that the LaSm, 87Sr86Sr (and143Nd144Nd) of the two enriched plume components proposed are too similar to be resolvable in ternary mixtures containing a significant fraction of the depleted MORB mantle source (i.e. a third component). We also show that the contribution of the radiogenic Pb-rich plume component positively correlates with the lava production rate. The cyclicity in Pb isotope composition is consistent with a pulsating or blob-like plume interacting with the asthenospheric flow related to the Mid-Atlantic ridge spreading plate boundary.

Influence of the Sierra Leone mantle plume on the equatorial Mid‐Atlantic Ridge: A Nd‐Sr‐Pb isotopic study

We report on a Pb-Nd-Sr isotope and rare earth study of Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) basalt glasses collected across the equatorial fracture zones from 7°S to 5°N (65 stations). The 1600-km-long profile reveals two mixing zones in the mantle that are isotopically distinct but cover the same range of (La/Sm)n ratios (0.3–2), with a gradational boundary between the Romanche and the Chain fracture zones. The potential mantle temperature profile inferred from Na2O content is also quite distinct. The north zone is dominated by a major, La/Sm and HIMU type Pb isotope anomaly centered at 1.7°N±300 km, which is flanked by two zones mildly radiogenic in Pb but depleted in light REE. A kinematic and evolutionary model describing the dispersion and interaction of the Sierra Leone plume with the asthenosphere and the MAR in the last 75 m.y. is proposed for this zone, which includes St. Paul and St. Peters Rocks. In contrast, over the south zone the isotope/geochemical profiles are well correlated at all length scales and opposite in sign from the inferred potential mantle temperature profile and mean percent fusion. Broad negative gradients are observed between the Romanche and the Charcot fracture zones, superimposed by spikelike anomalies at the intersection with the eastern part of the Romanche and Chain transform faults, where cold plate edge effects prevail. The heterogeneous mantle model of Sleep [1984] and Langmuir and Bender [1984] is applicable to this zone, that is the volatile and radiogenic Pb-rich lumps are preferentially melted during mantle decompression and passively sampled. The lumps may reflect the early dispersion of the St. Helena or Ascension mantle plumes under a thick lithosphere, followed by redistribution due to intense shearing, continental lithosphere delamination, and secondary mantle convection. The presence of a depleted asthenosphere unpolluted by plumes along the 400-km-long MAR segment between the Charcot and Ascension fracture zones is also apparent in the data.

Chaotic topography, mantle flow and mantle migration in the Australian–Antarctic discordance

Oceanic crust formed over the past 30 million years at the Australian–Antarctic discordance (AAD) is characterized by chaotic sea-floor topography, reflecting a weak magma supply from an unusually cold underlying mantle. During the past 3–4 million years, however, a source of increased magma supply, coinciding with the known Indian–Pacific mantle isotopic boundary, has propagated into the eastern AAD, displacing the chaotic terrain and replacing it with normal sea floor. Pacific mantle reached the eastern boundary of the AAD at least 7 million years ago, but it was not until 3–4 million years ago that lavas derived from Pacific mantle were first erupted within the AAD. This long hiatus, combined with the ridge–transform geometry across the AAD boundary, constrains the locus of mantle migration to a narrow, relatively shallow region, directly beneath the spreading axis of the Southeast Indian ridge.

Heads and tails: 30 million years of the Afar plume

Abstract Primitive recent mafic lavas from the Main Ethiopian Rift provide insight into the structure, composition and long-term history of the Afar plume. Modern rift basalts are mildly alkalic in composition, and were derived by moderate degrees of melting of fertile peridotite at depths corresponding to the base of the modern lithosphere (c.100 km). They are typically more silica-undersaturated than Oligocene lavas from the Ethiopia-Yemen continental flood basalt province, indicating derivation by generally smaller degrees of melting than were prevalent during the onset of plume head activity in this region. Major and trace element differences between the Oligocene and modern suites can be interpreted in terms of melting processes, including melt-induced binary mixing of melts from the Afar plume and those from three mantle end-member compositions (the convecting upper mantle and two enriched mantle sources). The Afar plume composition itself has remained essentially constant over the past 30 million years, indicating that the plume is a long-lived feature of the mantle. The geochemical and isotopic compositions of mafic lavas derived from the Afar plume support a modified single plume model in which multiple plume stems rise from a common large plume originating at great depth in the mantle (i.e. the South African superplume).

Multi-Stage Origin of the Coast Range Ophiolite, California: Implications for the Life Cycle of Supra-Subduction Zone Ophiolites

The Coast Range ophiolite of California is one of the most extensive ophiolite terranes in North America, extending over 700 km from the northernmost Sacramento Valley to the southern Transverse Ranges in central California. This ophiolite, and other ophiolite remnants with similar mid-Jurassic ages, represent a major but short-lived episode of oceanic crust formation that affected much of western North America. The history of this ophiolite is important for models of the tectonic evolution of western North America during the Mesozoic, and a range of conflicting interpretations have arisen. Current petrologic, geochemical, stratigraphic, and radiometric age data all favor the interpretation that the Coast Range ophiolite formed to a large extent by rapid extension in the fore-arc region of a nascent subduction zone. Closer inspection of these data, however, along with detailed studies of field relationships at several locales, show that formation of the ophiolite was more complex, and requires several stages of formation. Our work shows that exposures of the Coast Range ophiolite preserve evidence for four stages of magmatic development. The first three stages represent formation of the ophiolite above a nascent subduction zone. Rocks associated with the first stage include ophiolite layered gabbros, a sheeted complex, and volcanic rocks with arc tholeiitic or (more rarely) low-K calc-alkaline affinities. The second stage is characterized by intrusive wehrlite-clinopyroxenite complexes, intrusive gabbros, Cr-rich diorites, and volcanic rocks with high-Ca boninitic or tholeiitic ankaramite affinities. The third stage includes diorite and quartz diorite plutons, felsic dike and sill complexes, and calc-alkaline volcanic rocks. The first three stages of ophiolite formation were terminated by the intrusion of mid-ocean ridge basalt dikes, and the eruption of mid-ocean ridge basalt or ocean-island basalt volcanic suites. We interpret this final magmatic event (MORB dikes) to represent the collision of an active spreading ridge. Subsequent reorganization of relative plate motions led to sinistral transpression, along with renewed subduction and accretion of the Franciscan Complex. The latter event resulted in uplift and exhumation of the ophiolite by the process of accretionary uplift.