Lead isotopic study of young volcanic rocks from mid-ocean ridges, ocean islands and island arcs

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1980
• Subjects: Reykjanes; Iceland; Ocean Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1980.0224; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.1980.0224

Lead isotopic compositions of young volcanic rocks from different tectonic environments have distinctive characteristics. Their differences are evaluated within the framework of global tectonics and mantle differentiation. Ocean island leads are in general more radiogenic than mid-ocean ridge basalt (m.o.r.b.) leads. They form linear trends on lead isotopic ratio plots. Many of the trends extend toward the field of m.o.r.b. On plots of 207 P b / 204 Pb against 206 Pb / 204 Pb, their slopes are generally close to 0.1. Island arc leads in general are confined between sediment and m.o.r.b. type leads with slopes of ca . 0.30 on a plot of 207 P b / 204 Pb against 206 Pb / 204 Pb. Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic data of Hawaiian volcanics are closely examined. Data from each island support a two-component mixing model. However, there is a lack of full range correlation between islands, indicating heterogeneity in the end members. This mixing model could also be extended to explain data from the Iceland-Reykjanes ridge, and from 45° N on the Atlantic Ridge. The observed chemical and isotopic heterogeneity in young volcanic rocks is considered to be a result of long-term as well as short-term mantle differentiation and mixing. Lead isotopic data from ocean islands are interpreted in terms of mantle evolution models that involve long-term (more than 2 Ga) mantle chemical and isotopic heterogeneity. Incompatible element enriched ‘plume’-type m.o.r.b. have Th/U ratios ca . 3.0 too low and Rb/Sr ratios ca . 0.04 too high to generate the observed 208 Pb and 87 Sr respectively for long periods of time. Elemental fractionation in the mantle must have occurred very recently. This conclusion also applies to mantle sources for ocean island alkali basalts and nephelinites. Depletion of incompatible elements in m.o.r.b. sources is most probably due to continuous extraction of silicate melt and/or fluid phase from the low-velocity zone throughout geological time. Data on Pb isotopes, Sr isotopes and trace elements on volcanic rocks from ...