The age and distribution of mantle heterogeneity along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (31–41ºN)

• Main Authors: Laure Dosso A, Henri Bougault B, Charles Langmuir C, Claire Bollinger A, Olga Bonnier A
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Hayes; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.501.9925; http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~langmuir/Papers/Dosso EPSL 99.pdf

New trace element and isotopic data for basalts from the mid-Atlantic ridge between 31 and 41ºN allow a better description of the geochemical gradient south of the Azores triple junction, and the systematics of mantle source heterogeneity. There is a long wavelength enrichment in incompatible trace elements and isotopes associated with the Azores hot spot that extends from the Kurchatov fracture zone near 41ºN to the Hayes fracture zone near 33ºN. Superimposed on this gradient are local spikes of enrichment, the most prominent being the anomaly near the Oceanographer Fracture Zone (NOFZ). The Oceanographer anomaly spike is reflected modestly in the morphology of the ridge axis, but is not obviously related to a plume. The isotopic data alone are consistent with involvement of subcontinental material, but the samples do not contain the negative Nb–Ta anomalies which are usually associated with the presence of continental material in the mantle source. Away from the prominent enrichment spikes associated with the Azores and Oceanographer fracture zone, there are systematic relationships in this region between parent=daughter element ratios and isotope ratios. The Pb, Sr and Nd isotope systems all give apparent ages in the range 100 Ma to 300 Ma, with the age increasing with likely parent=daughter fractionation during melting (U=Pb < Rb=Sr < Sm=Nd age). Monte Carlo simulations of an enrichment event in a depleted heterogeneous mantle at 250 Ma produce results that correspond well with the observations for all three isotopic systems. Since this age also corresponds to the pre-opening of the North Atlantic