Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea
Abstract The mantle plume process is thought to be the prevailing dynamic mechanism for the South China Sea opening, but controversy persists due to the lack of critical evidence of magma in the initial seafloor spreading. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 367 successfully reco...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65174-y http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65174-y.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65174-y |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-020-65174-y 2023-05-15T16:50:48+02:00 Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea Yu, Xun Liu, Zhifei 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65174-y http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65174-y.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65174-y en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Scientific Reports volume 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65174-y 2022-01-04T16:33:44Z Abstract The mantle plume process is thought to be the prevailing dynamic mechanism for the South China Sea opening, but controversy persists due to the lack of critical evidence of magma in the initial seafloor spreading. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 367 successfully recovered at Site U1500 the mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) representing the magma activity of the initial spreading of the South China Sea during the earliest Oligocene. Here we present the whole-rock and olivine phenocryst geochemistry of the basalts to constrain the potential influence of the Hainan mantle plume on the evolution of the South China Sea. Major and trace elemental compositions indicate that the basalts were mainly influenced by fractional crystallization of olivine and formed by melting of a spinel peridotite source without any pyroxenite in mantle source. The calculated mantle potential temperature of those most primitive basalts is much lower than plume-related MORB of Iceland, but similar to normal MORB elsewhere. Both lithological composition and mantle potential temperature clearly contradict with the mantle plume model, signifying that the mantle plume didn’t exist at the earliest Oligocene. Therefore, the initial spreading of the South China Sea should be caused by non-plume processes, most likely by the westward subduction of the Pacific Plate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Springer Nature (via Crossref) Pacific Scientific Reports 10 1 |
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Multidisciplinary |
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Multidisciplinary Yu, Xun Liu, Zhifei Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract The mantle plume process is thought to be the prevailing dynamic mechanism for the South China Sea opening, but controversy persists due to the lack of critical evidence of magma in the initial seafloor spreading. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 367 successfully recovered at Site U1500 the mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) representing the magma activity of the initial spreading of the South China Sea during the earliest Oligocene. Here we present the whole-rock and olivine phenocryst geochemistry of the basalts to constrain the potential influence of the Hainan mantle plume on the evolution of the South China Sea. Major and trace elemental compositions indicate that the basalts were mainly influenced by fractional crystallization of olivine and formed by melting of a spinel peridotite source without any pyroxenite in mantle source. The calculated mantle potential temperature of those most primitive basalts is much lower than plume-related MORB of Iceland, but similar to normal MORB elsewhere. Both lithological composition and mantle potential temperature clearly contradict with the mantle plume model, signifying that the mantle plume didn’t exist at the earliest Oligocene. Therefore, the initial spreading of the South China Sea should be caused by non-plume processes, most likely by the westward subduction of the Pacific Plate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yu, Xun Liu, Zhifei |
author_facet |
Yu, Xun Liu, Zhifei |
author_sort |
Yu, Xun |
title |
Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea |
title_short |
Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea |
title_full |
Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea |
title_fullStr |
Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the South China Sea |
title_sort |
non-mantle-plume process caused the initial spreading of the south china sea |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65174-y http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65174-y.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65174-y |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65174-y |
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Scientific Reports |
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10 |
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1 |
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1766040919495147520 |