Decoupling between Oxygen and Radiogenic Isotopes: Evidence for Generation of Juvenile Continental Crust by Partial Melting of Subducted Oceanic Crust

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1212-1225
Author(s):  
Xuan-Ce Wang ◽  
Qiuli Li ◽  
Simon A. Wilde ◽  
Zheng-Xiang Li ◽  
Chaofeng Li ◽  
...  
2001 ◽  
Vol 172 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaelle Prouteau ◽  
Rene C. Maury ◽  
Manuel Pubellier ◽  
Joseph Cotten ◽  
Herve Bellon

Abstract Magmatic activity linked to syn- or post-collisional zones leads to the emplacement of remarkably heterogeneous rocks: calc-alkaline, high-K calc-alkaline or shoshonitic series variably contaminated by continental crust; anatectic granites and ignimbrites derived from the latter; and finally alkali potassic to ultrapotassic basalts [Harris et al., 1990; Pearce et al., 1984, 1990; Arnaud et al., 1992; Benito et al., 1999]. The main sources of these magmas are either the upper mantle (sub-oceanic or subcontinental) frequently metasomatized by hydrous fluid originating from the subducted slab; or the continental crust, which can act as a contaminant [Benito et al., 1999; Miller et al., 1999] or melt directly [Harris et al., 1990; Zingg et al., 1990]. The purpose of the present paper is to document the role of a third source: the subducted oceanic crust, as evidenced by the occurrence of Miocene adakites in Sarawak (NW Borneo). The studied rocks have been sampled from western Sarawak (fig. 1), and their location is shown on the geological map [Tan, 1982] of figure 2. They mostly occur as stocks, dykes and sills which crosscut the Paleozoic to Miocene sedimentary units. Two kinds of intrusions can be distinguished. High-K calc-alkaline to medium-K calc-alkaline diorites and microdiorites occur in the northern part of the studied area, in Salak Island and Santubong Peninsula. Microtonalites and dacites occur near Kuching and in the southern part of Sarawak (Kuap and Bau areas). Whole-rock K-Ar data (table I) demonstrate that these two associations are of different ages: high-K calc-alkaline diorites were emplaced during the Lower Miocene (22.3 to 23.7 Ma), whereas the microtonalites and dacites are younger by ca. 8 Ma or more (Middle to Upper Miocene, 14.6 to 6.4 Ma). Major and trace element data (table II) show that the Lower Miocene diorites display all the usual characteristics of subduction-related magmas. The Middle to Upper Miocene microtonalites and dacites share some of these characteristics, but in addition they display typical adakitic features: SiO 2 -rich (65.5-70%) and sodic (Na 2 O/K 2 O>2) character (table II and figure 3); lack or rare occurrence of pyroxenes, usually replaced by early-crystallized (near-liquidus) amphiboles (table III); very low Y and HREE contents, consistent with the presence of residual garnet in their source, and leading to characteristically high La/Yb and Sr/Y ratios (fig. 4, 5). Their titanomagnetite-hemoilmenite associations reflect equilibrium features [Bacon and Hirschman, 1988] indicating moderate temperatures (<900 degrees C) and highly oxidizing (NNO+1) crystallization conditions [Ghiorso and Sack, 1991]. The Lower Miocene Sarawak diorites are typically subduction-related from a geochemical point of view. They likely derive from the evolution of island-arc basaltic magmas, which themselves originated from the partial melting of upper mantle peridotites previously metasomatized by hydrous fluids expelled from the subducting oceanic slab [Tatsumi et al., 1986; Tatsumi, 1989]. The origin of the Middle-Upper Miocene adakitic microtonalites and dacites is different. According to previous studies, they likely derive from the partial melting of metabasalts (garnet amphibolites or eclogites) from subducted oceanic crust [Defant and Drummond, 1990; Defant et al., 1991, 1992; Drummond et al., 1996; Maury et al., 1996; Martin, 1993, 1999]. Their position in the hybrid tonalite+peridotite system [Caroll and Wyllie, 1989] shows that they crystallized within the garnet stability field and likely interacted with the upper mantle during their ascent (fig. 7). This feature is not consistent with their genesis through melting of metabasalts accreted at the base of the Borneo continental crust. In addition, the less evolved Sarawak adakites display mineralogical and geochemical features remarkably similar to those of the 1991 Mt Pinatubo dacite, the experimental petrology of which has been extensively studied at low [2 kbar; Scaillet and Evans, 1999; Rutherford and Devine, 1996] to medium pressures [4 to 20 kbar; Prouteau et al., 1999]. Such dacitic magmas are not in equilibrium with garnet at pressures lower than or equal to 20 kbar, which rules out their derivation from metabasalts tectonically or magmatically accreted to the base of the North Borneo continental crust. We propose, instead, that they originated from the partial melting of basalts from a fragment of oceanic lithosphere within the upper mantle. Like the adakites of Central Mindanao, Philippines [Sajona et al., 1994, 1997 and 2000; Maury et al., 1996] and those from Aird Hills, Papua-New Guinea [Smith et al., 1979; Defant and Drummond, 1990] the Sarawak adakites represent potential markers of the occurrence at depth of oceanic crust slivers, which could be much more common in collision zones than previously thought.


2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Garcia-Casco ◽  
C. Lazaro ◽  
Y. Rojas-Agramonte ◽  
A. Kroner ◽  
R. L. Torres-Roldan ◽  
...  

Oceanic lithosphere is produced at mid-ocean ridges and reinjected into the mantle at convergent plate boundaries. During subduction, this lithosphere goes through a series of progressive dehydration and melting events. Initial dehydration of the slab occurs during low pressure metamorphism of the oceanic crust and involves significant dewatering and loss of labile elements. At depths of 80-120 km water release by the slab is believed to lead to partial melting of the oceanic crust. These melts, enriched in incompatible elements (excepting Nb, Ta and Ti), fertilize the overlying mantle wedge and produce the enriched peridotitic sources of island arc basalts. Retention of Nb, Ta and Ti by a residual mineral (e.g. in a rutile phase) in a refractory eclogitic lithology within the sinking slab are considered to cause their characteristic depletions in island arc basalts. These refractory eclogitic lithologies, enriched in Nb, Ta and Ti, accumulate at depth in the mantle. The continued isolation of this eclogitic residuum in the deep mantle over Earth ’s history produces a reservoir which contains a significant proportion of the Earth’s Ti, Nb and Ta budget. Both the continental crust and depleted mantle have subchondritic Nb /La and Ti/Zr ratios and thus they cannot be viewed strictly as complementary geochemical reservoirs. This lack of complementarity between the continental crust and depleted mantle can be balanced by a refractory eclogitic reservoir deep in the mantle, which is enriched in Nb, Ta and Ti. A refractory eclogitic reservoir amounting to ca . 2% of the mass of the silicate Earth would also contain significant amounts of Ca and Al and may explain the superchondritic Ca/Al value of the depleted mantle.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhao Lin ◽  
Qingyang Hu ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
Yue Meng ◽  
Yukai Zhuang ◽  
...  

Abstract Subduction of oceanic lithosphere transports surface water into the mantle where it can have remarkable effects, but how much can be cycled down into the deep mantle, and potentially to the core, remains ambiguous. Recent studies show that dense SiO2 in the form of stishovite, a major phase in subducted oceanic crust at depths greater than ~300 km, has the potential to host and carry water into the lower mantle. We investigate the hydration of stishovite and its higher-pressure polymorphs, CaCl2-type SiO2 and seifertite, in experiments at pressures of 44–152 GPa and temperatures of ~1380–3300 K. We quantify the water storage capacity of these dense SiO2 phases at high pressure and find that water stabilizes CaCl2-type SiO2 to pressures beyond the base of the mantle. We parametrize the P-T dependence of water capacity and model H2O storage in SiO2 along a lower mantle geotherm. Dehydration of slab mantle in cooler slabs in the transition zone can release fluids that hydrate stishovite in oceanic crust. Hydrous SiO2 phases are stable along a geotherm and progressively dehydrate with depth, potentially causing partial melting or silica enrichment in the lower mantle. Oceanic crust can transport ~0.2 wt% water to the core-mantle boundary region where, upon heating, it can initiate partial melting and react with the core to produce iron hydrides, providing plausible explanations for ultra-low velocity regions at the base of the mantle.


1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1007-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Wyllie ◽  
Wuu-Liang Huang ◽  
Charles R. Stern ◽  
Sven Maaløe

The calc-alkalic rocks of batholiths or their precursors may be generated in deep continental crust, in subducted oceanic crust, in the mantle wedge above, or in processes involving material from all three sources. For the series gabbro–tonalite–granite, we have phase relationships with excess H2O to 35 kbar (3500 MPa), and the H2O-undersaturated liquidus surfaces mapped with contours for H2O contents and with fields for near-liquidus minerals. Isobaric diagrams with low H2O contents provide grids potentially useful in defining limits for the H2O content of magmas, based on the sequence of crystallization. Conclusions from the experimental framework include: (1) The H2O content of large granitic bodies is less than 1.5%. (2) Primary granite magmas can not be derived from the mantle or subducted ocean crust. (3) Primary granite magmas with low H2O content are generated in the crust, and erupted as rhyolites. (4) Primary tonalite and andesite are not generated from mantle peridotite; the H2O contents required are unrealistically high. (5) Primary tonalite and andesite are not generated in the crust unless temperatures are significantly higher than those of regional metamorphism. (6) Subducted ocean crust yields magmas with intermediate SiO2 content, but not primary tonalite and andesite. (7) Batholiths are produced from crustal rocks as a normal consequence of regional metamorphism, with the formation of H2O-undersaturated granite liquid and mobilized migmatites. Some batholiths receive in addition contributions of material and heat from mantle and subducted ocean crust.


2019 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 102937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianghong Deng ◽  
Xiaoyong Yang ◽  
Huasheng Qi ◽  
Zhao-feng Zhang ◽  
Abdul Shakoor Mastoi ◽  
...  

Geochemical data help to constrain the sizes of identifiable reservoirs within the framework of models of layered or whole-mantle circulation, and they identify the sources of the circulating heterogeneities as mainly crustal and/or lithospheric, but they do not decisively distinguish between different types of circulation. The mass balance between crust, depleted mantle and undepleted mantle based on 143 Nd/ 144 Nd, Nb/U and Ce/Pb, and the concentrations of very highly incompatible elements Ba, Rb, Th, U, and K, shows that ca. 25- 70% (by mass) of depleted mantle balances the trace element and isotopic abundances of the continental crust. This mass balance reflects the actual proportions of mantle reservoirs only if there are no additional unidentified reservoirs. Evidence on the nature and ages of different source reservoirs comes from the geochemical fingerprints of basalts extruded at mid-ocean ridges and oceanic islands. Consideration of Nd and He isotopes alone indicates that ocean island basalts (oibs) may be derived from a relatively undepleted portion of the mantle. This has in the past provided a geochemical rationale for a two-layer model consisting of an upper depleted and a lower undepleted (‘primitive’) mantle layer. However, Pb-isotopic ratios, and Nb/U and Ce/Pb concentration ratios demonstrate that most or all oib source reservoirs are definitely not primitive. Models consistent with this evidence postulate recycling of oceanic crust and lithosphere or subcontinental lithosphere. Recycling is a natural consequence of mantle convection. This cannot be said for some other models such as those requiring large-scale vertical metasomatism beneath oib source regions. Unlike other trace elements, Nb, Ta, and Pb discriminate sharply between continental and oceanic crust-forming processes. Because of this, the primitive mantle value of Nb/U = 30 (Ce/Pb = 9) has been fractionated into a continental crustal Nb/U = 12 (Ce/Pb = 4) and a residual-mantle (morb (mid-ocean ridge basalt) plus oib source) Nb/U = 47 (Ce/Pb = 25). These residual mantle values are uniform within about 20% and are not fractionated during formation of oceanic crust. By using these concentrations ratios as tracers, it can be shown that the possible contribution of recycled continental crust to oib sources is limited to a few percent. Therefore, recycling must be dominated by oceanic crust and lithosphere, or by subcontinental lithosphere. Oceanic crust normally bears a thin layer of pelagic sediment at the time of subduction, and this is consistent with oib sources that are dominated by subducted oceanic crust with variable but always small additions of continental material. Primordial 3 He, 36 Ar, and excess 129 Xe, in oceanic basalts demonstrate that the mantle has been neither completely outgassed nor homogenized, but they do not constrain the degree of mixing or the size of reservoirs. Also, helium does not correlate well with other isotopic data and may have migrated into the basalt source from other regions. The high 3 He/ 4 He ratios found in some oibs suggest that, even though the basalts are not derived from primordial mantle, their sources may be located close to a reservoir rich in primordial gases. This leads to models in which the oib sources are in a boundary layer within the mantle. The primordial helium migrates into this layer from below. The interpretation of the rare-gas data is still quite controversial. It is often argued that the upper mantle is a well-homogenized reservoir, but the data indicate heterogeneities on scales ranging from 10° to 10 6 m. The 206 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios in the oceanic m antle range from 17 to 21, which is similar to the range in most continental rocks. The degree of mixing cannot be directly inferred from these data unless the size and composition of the heterogeneities and the time of their introduction into the system are known. The relative uniformity of Nb/U and Ce/Pb ratios in the otherwise heterogeneous morb and oib sources indicates that this reservoir was indeed homogenized after the separation of the continental crust, and that the observed isotopic and chem ical heterogeneities were introduced subsequently. Overall, the results are consistent with, but do not prove, a layered mantle where the upper layer contains both morb and oib sources, and the lower, primitive mantle is not sampled by present-day volcanism. Alternative models such as those involving a chemically graded mantle have not been sufficiently explored.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Piccolo ◽  
Boris Kaus ◽  
Richard White ◽  
Richard Palin

Several lines of evidence suggest that the Archean (4.0–2.5 Ga) mantle was hotter than today’s potential temperature(TP ) of 1350 ýC. However, the magnitude of such di erence is poorly constrained, with TP estimation spanningfrom 1500 ýC to 1600 ýC during the Meso-Archean (3.2-2.8 Ga). Such di erences have major implications for theinterpreted mechanisms of continental crust generation on the early Earth, as their e cacy is highly sensitive to theTP . Here, we integrate petrological modeling with thermo-mechanical simulations to understand the dynamics ofcrust formation during Archean. Our results predict that partial melting of primitive oceanic crust produces felsicmelts with geochemical signatures matching those observed in Archean cratons from a mantle TP as low as 1450ýC thanks to lithospheric-scale Rayleigh–Taylor-type instabilities. These simulations also infer the occurrence ofintraplate deformation events that allow an e cient transport of crustal material into the mantle, hydrating it.


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