Abstract
The influence of Hainan mantle plume and subducting recycled oceanic crust beneath the spreading ridge of the South China Sea (SCS) have been widely proposed recently, but still controversial and ambiguous. Here, we present seismic tomographic evidence, new major and trace element, and Pb isotopic compositions of volcanic glasses from one International Ocean Drilling Program drill core (Site U1434) in the SCS spreading ridge. The volcanic glasses are relatively enriched in alkalis and light rare earth elements (LREEs) and depleted in heavy REEs (HREEs), exhibit slightly positive anomalies in Nb, Ta, Zr, and Hf as well as a positive Nb relative to La and Th, and show relatively high 207Pb/206Pb and 208Pb/206Pb isotopic ratios, suggesting ocean island basalt- (OIB-) type and enriched mantle 2- (EM2-) type geochemical features likely related to a mantle plume. These geochemical features are consistent with those of late Cenozoic volcanic rocks in Hainan and surrounding areas associated with a mantle plume, likely providing the influence of Hainan mantle plume beneath the spreading ridge of the SCS. The SCS primary-melt and volcanic glasses indicate that the source mantle involved 18.5% eclogite (dense, recycled oceanic crust from the stagnant subducted slab) and 46.1% garnet pyroxenite (produced by the reaction between the peridotite melt and recycled oceanic crust). The existence of Hainan mantle plume and stagnant subducted slab is further supported by geophysical evidence from a recent three-dimensional P-wave seismic tomographic model.
The thermal imprint of continental breakup during the formation of the South China Sea
