Pamela D. Kempton

Evidence for the survival of the oldest terrestrial mantle reservoir

Helium is a powerful tracer of primitive material in Earth’s mantle. Extremely high 3He/4He ratios in some ocean-island basalts suggest the presence of relatively undegassed and undifferentiated material preserved in Earth’s mantle. However, terrestrial lavas with high 3He/4He ratios have never been observed to host the primitive lead-isotopic compositions that are required for an early (roughly 4.5 Gyr ago) formation age. Here we show that Cenozoic-era Baffin Island and West Greenland lavas, previously found to host the highest terrestrial-mantle 3He/4He ratios, exhibit primitive lead-isotope ratios that are consistent with an ancient mantle source age of 4.55–4.45u2009Gyr. The Baffin Island and West Greenland lavas also exhibit 143Nd/144Nd ratios similar to values recently proposed for an early-formed (roughly 4.5 Gyr ago) terrestrial mantle reservoir. The combined helium-, lead- and Nd-isotopic compositions in Baffin Island and West Greenland lavas therefore suggest that their source is the most ancient accessible reservoir in the Earth’s mantle, and it may be parental to all mantle reservoirs that give rise to modern volcanism.

Crustal assimilation during turbulent magma ascent (ATA); new isotopic evidence from the Mull Tertiary lava succession, N. W. Scotland

Assimilation of crustal rocks with concomitant fractional crystallisation (AFC) is a well documented phenomenon in many igneous suites, but geochemical evidence from the Tertiary Mull lava succession suggests that in these magmas crustal contamination occurred by a distinctly different mechanism. Lavas from the lower half of the Mull Plateau group (MPG) can be divided into two broad sub-types; high (>8%) MgO basalts with elevated Ba and K; and lower MgO (<8%) basaltic-hawaiites with lower Ba and K. The lower crust and most of the upper crust beneath Mull is probably of Lewisian age. The Sr-, Nd-and Pb-isotope compositions of local Lewisian crustal samples yield the following ranges: 87Sr/86Sr=0.71002–0.72348, 143Nd/144Nd=0.51045–0.51058 and 206Pb/204Pb=14.0–14.6. Ten lavas have also been analysed and yield the following ranges: 87Sr/86Sr=0.7028–0.7042, 143Nd/144Nd=0.51214–0.51230 and 206Pb/204Pb=15.1–17.9. However, within this range, it is predominantly the more primitive mafic compositions, with elevated Mg, Ba and K, that show the lowest Nd- and Pb-, and the highest Sr-isotope values. Modelling of these isotopic results, in conjunction with major and trace element data, show that: (1) contamination by Lewisian lower crustal material does occur; (2) that the process involved was not one of assimilation with concomitant fractional crystallisation (AFC). The proposed contamination process is one whereby the hottest (most MgO rich) magmas have assimilated acidic partial melts of Lewisian lower crust during turbulent ascent (ATA) through thin, poorly connected dyke- and sill-like magma chambers. The chemical composition of the contaminated lavas can be modelled successfully through addition of ∼5% acidic Lewisian crust to an uncontaminated lava. In contrast, the more evolved magmas — which probably fractionated at sub-crustal levels — were either not hot enough to molt significant amounts of crust, or did not ascend turbulently because of their higher viscosity, and so are less contaminated with crust.

Hf-Nd isotope constraints on the origin of the Cretaceous Caribbean plateau and its relationship to the Galapagos plume

Formation of the Cretaceous Caribbean plateau, including the komatiites of Gorgona, has been linked to the ncurrently active Gala¤pagos hotspot. We use Hf^Nd isotopes and trace element data to characterise both the nCaribbean plateau and the Gala¤pagos hotspot, and to investigate the relationship between them. Four geochemical ncomponents are identified in the Gala¤pagos mantle plume: two ‘enriched’ components with OHf and ONd similar to nenriched components observed in other mantle plumes, one moderately enriched component with high Nb/Y, and a nfourth component which most likely represents depleted MORB source mantle. The Caribbean plateau basalt data nform a linear array in Hf^Nd isotope space, consistent with mixing between two mantle components. Combined Hf^ nNd^Pb^Sr^He isotope and trace element data from this study and the literature suggest that the more enriched nCaribbean end member corresponds to one or both of the enriched components identified on Gala¤pagos. Likewise, nthe depleted end member of the array is geochemically indistinguishable from MORB and corresponds to the depleted ncomponent of the Gala¤pagos system. Enriched basalts from Gorgona partially overlap with the Caribbean plateau narray in OHf vs. ONd, whereas depleted basalts, picrites and komatiites from Gorgona have a high OHf for a given nONd, defining a high-OHf depleted end member that is not observed elsewhere within the Caribbean plateau sequences. nThis component is similar, however, in terms of Hf^Nd^Pb^He isotopes and trace elements to the depleted plume ncomponent recognised in basalts from Iceland and along the Reykjanes Ridge. We suggest that the Caribbean plateau nrepresents the initial outpourings of the ancestral Gala¤pagos plume. Absence of a moderately enriched, high Nb/Y ncomponent in the older Caribbean plateau (but found today on the island of Floreana) is either due to changing nsource compositions of the plume over its 90 Ma history, or is an artifact of limited sampling. The high-OHf depletedcomponent sampled by the Gorgona komatiites and depleted basalts is unique to Gorgona and is not found in the nCaribbean plateau. This may be an indication of the scale of heterogeneity of the Caribbean plateau system; nalternatively Gorgona may represent a separate oceanic plateau derived from a completely different Pacific plume, nsuch as the Sala y Gomez.

A synopsis of the Joint Environment and Human Health Programme in the UK

The Joint Environment and Human Health (E&HH) Programme has explored how both man-made and natural changes to the environment can influence human health. Scientists have tackled the complicated mix of environmental, social and economic factors that influence health, particularly focusing on naturally occurring toxins, man-made pollutants, nanoparticles and pathogens to see:• how they spread within the environment• how their properties change as they interact with other substances or organisms• how we become exposed to them, and• their impact on human health.The Programme has not only succeeded in bringing together scientists from a broad range of environmental, social and biomedical backgrounds, but also fostered new relationships with end users and policy makers. This new community is helping to provide the multidisciplinary capacity able to respond in an interdisciplinary way to resolve problems that are intrinsically interfacial in character. Many of these questions relate to complex issues such as the environmental biology and geochemistry of soils and how these influence the transport, accessibility and bioavailability of chemical pollutants and infectivity of pathogens. The dispersion of harmful particles in the atmosphere is another area of major concern where the E&HH Programme has broken new ground by showing how the chemical and physical properties of such particles influence their environmental behaviour and may govern their toxicity and resultant pathological reactions induced following inhalation. Working groups and networks have identified potential health problems concerning the transport and emergence of human pathogens associated with food, soil, air and water. The consequence(s) of global and regional climate change for the environmental behaviours of pollutants and pathogens have been considered by a number of the projects supported by the E&HH programme.The selection of articles in this supplement reflect the broad scope of the E&HH programme. By effectively identifying and interconnecting these interdisciplinary elements, the E&HH programme has fostered the emergence of new ways of solving problems in areas of research that have, until recently, had little connection with one another. This has not only helped build new research groupings, but has also led to exciting new scientific developments as described in this issue of Environmental Health.

Pb and Hf isotope evidence for mantle enrichment processes and melt interactions in the lower crust and lithospheric mantle in Miocene orogenic volcanic rocks from Monte Arcuentu (Sardinia, Italy)

Miocene (ca. 18 Ma) subduction-related basalts and basaltic andesites from Monte Arcuentu, southern Sardinia, Italy, show a remarkable correlation between 87Sr/86Sr (from ~0.705 to ~0.711) over a small range of SiO2 (~51–58 wt%) that contrasts with most other orogenic volcanic suites worldwide. New high-precision Pb and Hf isotope data help to constrain the petrogenesis of these rocks. n nThe most primitive Monte Arcuentu rocks (MgO >8.5 wt%) were sourced from a mantle wedge metasomatized by melts derived from terrigenous sedixadment, likely derived from Archean terranes of northern Africa. This gave rise to magmas with high 87Sr/86Sr (0.705–0.709) and 207Pb/204Pb (15.65–15.67) with moderate eHf (–1 to +8) and eNd (–6 to +1), but it does not account for the full range of compositions observed. More evolved rocks (MgO <8.5 wt%) have higher 87Sr/86Sr (up to 0.711) and 207Pb/204Pb (up to 15.68), with eHf and eNd as low as –8 and –9, respectively. Mixing calculations suggest that evolved rocks with low Rb/Ba and low 206Pb/204Pb interacted with lower crust similar compositionally to that exposed today in Calabria, Italy, which was formerly in crustal continuity with Sardinia. High Rb/Ba and high 206Pb/204Pb magmas interacted with lithospheric mantle similar to that sampled by Italian lamproites. Partial melting of lower crustal and upper mantle lithologies was facilitated by the rapid extension, and subsequent passive mantle upwelling, that occurred as Sardinia drifted away from the European plate during the Oligo-Miocene (ca. 32–15 Ma). Fractional crystallization under these PT conditions involved xadolivine + clinopyroxene with little or no plagioclase, such that differentiation proceeded without significant increase in SiO2. The Monte Arcuentu rocks provide insights into assimilation process in the lower crust and lithospheric mantle that may be obscured by upper crustal assimilation–fractional crystallization (AFC) processes in other orogenic suites.

A synopsis of the Joint Environment and Human Health Programme in the UK Introduction

The Joint Environment and Human Health (E&HH) Programme has explored how both man-made and natural changes to the environment can influence human health. Scientists have tackled the complicated mix of environmental, social and economic factors that influence health, particularly focusing on naturally occurring toxins, man-made pollutants, nanoparticles and pathogens to see:• how they spread within the environment• how their properties change as they interact with other substances or organisms• how we become exposed to them, and• their impact on human health.The Programme has not only succeeded in bringing together scientists from a broad range of environmental, social and biomedical backgrounds, but also fostered new relationships with end users and policy makers. This new community is helping to provide the multidisciplinary capacity able to respond in an interdisciplinary way to resolve problems that are intrinsically interfacial in character. Many of these questions relate to complex issues such as the environmental biology and geochemistry of soils and how these influence the transport, accessibility and bioavailability of chemical pollutants and infectivity of pathogens. The dispersion of harmful particles in the atmosphere is another area of major concern where the E&HH Programme has broken new ground by showing how the chemical and physical properties of such particles influence their environmental behaviour and may govern their toxicity and resultant pathological reactions induced following inhalation. Working groups and networks have identified potential health problems concerning the transport and emergence of human pathogens associated with food, soil, air and water. The consequence(s) of global and regional climate change for the environmental behaviours of pollutants and pathogens have been considered by a number of the projects supported by the E&HH programme.The selection of articles in this supplement reflect the broad scope of the E&HH programme. By effectively identifying and interconnecting these interdisciplinary elements, the E&HH programme has fostered the emergence of new ways of solving problems in areas of research that have, until recently, had little connection with one another. This has not only helped build new research groupings, but has also led to exciting new scientific developments as described in this issue of Environmental Health.