Nitrogen recycling in subducted mantle rocks and implications for the global nitrogen cycle

The nitrogen concentrations [N] and isotopic compositions of ultramafic mantle rocks that represent various dehydration stages and metamorphic conditions during the subduction cycle were investigated to assess the role of such rocks in deep-Earth N cycling. The samples analyzed record low-grade serpentinization on the seafloor and/or in the forearc wedge (low-grade serpentinites from Monte Nero/Italy and Erro Tobbio/Italy) and two successive stages of metamorphic dehydration at increasing pressures and temperatures (high-pressure (HP) serpentinites from Erro Tobbio/Italy and chlorite harzburgites from Cerro del Almirez/Spain) to allow for the determination of dehydration effects in ultramafic rocks on the N budget. In low-grade serpentinites, δ¹⁵N_air values (?3.8 to +3.5 ‰) and [N] (1.3–4.5 μg/g) are elevated compared to the pristine depleted MORB mantle (δ¹⁵N_air ~ ?5 ‰, [N] = 0.27 ± 0.16 μg/g), indicating input from sedimentary organic sources, at the outer rise during slab bending and/or in the forearc mantle wedge during hydration by slab-derived fluids. Both HP serpentinites and chlorite harzburgites have δ¹⁵N_air values and [N] overlapping with low-grade serpentinites, indicating no significant loss of N during metamorphic dehydration and retention of N to depths of 60–70 km. The best estimate for the δ¹⁵N_air of ultramafic rocks recycled into the mantle is +3 ± 2 ‰. The global N subduction input flux in serpentinized oceanic mantle rocks was calculated as 2.3 × 10⁸ mol N₂/year, assuming a thickness of serpentinized slab mantle of 500 m. This is at least one order of magnitude smaller than the N fluxes calculated for sediments and altered oceanic crust. Calculated global input fluxes for a range of representative subducting sections of unmetamorphosed and HP-metamorphosed slabs, all incorporating serpentinized slab mantle, range from 1.1 × 10¹⁰ to 3.9 × 10¹⁰ mol N₂/year. The best estimate for the δ¹⁵N_air of the subducting slab is +4 ± 1 ‰, supporting models that invoke recycling of subducted N in mantle plumes and consistent with general models for the volatile evolution on Earth. Estimates of the efficiency of arc return of subducted N are complicated further by the possibility that mantle wedge hydrated in forearcs, then dragged to beneath volcanic fronts, is capable of conveying significant amounts of N to subarc depths.     

Garnet pyroxenite and eclogite in the Bohemian Massif: geochemical evidence for Variscan recycling of subducted lithosphere

High-temperature, high-pressure eclogite and garnet pyroxenite occur as lenses in garnet peridotite bodies of the Gföhl nappe in the Bohemian Massif. The high-pressure assemblages formed in the mantle and are important for allowing investigations of mantle compositions and processes. Eclogite is distinguished from garnet pyroxenite on the basis of elemental composition, with mg number <80, Na₂O > 0.75 wt.%, Cr₂O₃ < 0.15 wt.% and Ni < 400 ppm. Considerable scatter in two-element variation diagrams and the common modal layering of some eclogite bodies indicate the importance of crystal accumulation in eclogite and garnet pyroxenite petrogenesis. A wide range in isotopic composition of clinopyroxene separates [_Nd, +5.4 to –6.0; (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i, 0.70314–0.71445; ¹⁸O_SMOW, 3.8–5.8%o] requires that subducted oceanic crust is a component in some melts from which eclogite and garnet pyroxenite crystallized. Variscan Sm-Nd ages were obtained for garnet-clinopyroxene pairs from Dobeovice eclogite (338 Ma), Úhrov eclogite (344 Ma) and Nové Dvory garnet pyroxenite (343 Ma). Gföhl eclogite and garnet pyroxenite formed by high-pressure crystal accumulation (±trapped melt) from transient melts in the lithosphere, and the source of such melts was subducted, hydrothermally altered oceanic crust, including subducted sediments. Much of the chemical variation in the eclogites can be explained by simple fractional crystallization, whereas variation in the pyroxenites indicates fractional crystallization accompanied by some assimilation of the peridotite host.     

Tethyan and Indian subduction viewed from the Himalayan high- to ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks

The Himalayan range is one of the best documented continent-collisional belts and provides a natural laboratory for studying subduction processes. High-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure rocks with origins in a variety of protoliths occur in various settings: accretionary wedge, oceanic subduction zone, subducted continental margin and continental collisional zone. Ages and locations of these high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure rocks along the Himalayan belt allow us to evaluate the evolution of this major convergent zone.

(1) Cretaceous (80–100 Ma) blueschists and possibly amphibolites in the Indus Tsangpo Suture zone represent an accretionary wedge developed during the northward subduction of the Tethys Ocean beneath the Asian margin. Their exhumation occurred during the subduction of the Tethys prior to the collision between the Indian and Asian continents.

(2) Eclogitic rocks with unknown age are reported at one location in the Indus Tsangpo Suture zone, east of the Nanga Parbat syntaxis. They may represent subducted Tethyan oceanic lithosphere.

(3) Ultrahigh-pressure rocks on both sides of the western syntaxis (Kaghan and Tso Morari massifs) formed during the early stage of subduction/exhumation of the Indian northern margin at the time of the Paleocene–Eocene boundary.

(4) Granulitized eclogites in the Lesser Himalaya Sequence in southern Tibet formed during the Paleogene underthrusting of the Indian margin beneath southern Tibet, and were exhumed in the Miocene.

These metamorphic rocks provide important constraints on the geometry and evolution of the India–Asia convergent zone during the closure of the Tethys Ocean. The timing of the ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism in the Tso Morari massif indicates that the initial contact between the Indian and Asian continents likely occurred in the western syntaxis at 57 ± 1 Ma. West of the western syntaxis, the Higher Himalayan Crystallines were thinned. Rocks equivalent to the Lesser Himalayan Sequence are present north of the Main Central Thrust. Moreover, the pressure metamorphism in the Kaghan massif in the western part of the syntaxis took place later, 7 m.y. after the metamorphism in the eastern part, suggesting that the geometry of the initial contact between the Indian and Asian continents was not linear. The northern edge of the Indian continent in the western part was 300 to 350 km farther south than the area east of the Nanga Parbat syntaxis. Such “en baionnette” geometry is probably produced by north-trending transform faults that initially formed during the Late Paleozoic to Cretaceous Gondwana rifting. Farther east in the southern Tibet, the collision occurred before 50.6 ± 0.2 Ma. Finally, high-pressure to ultrahigh-pressure rocks in the western Himalaya formed and exhumed in steep subduction compared to what is now shown in tomographic images and seismologic data.     

The fate of subducted oceanic crust: a mineral segregation model

Plate subduction and mantle plumes are two of the most important material transport processes of the silicate Earth. Currently, a debate exists over whether the subducted oceanic crust is recycled back to the Earth's surface through mantle plumes, and can explain their derivation and major characteristics. It is also puzzling as to why plume heads have huge melting capacities and differ dramatically from plume tails both in size and chemical composition. We present data showing that both ocean island basalt and mid-ocean ridge basalt have identical supra-primitive mantle mean Nb/U values of ～46.7, significantly larger than that of the primitive mantle value. From a mass balance calculation based on Nb/U?we have determined that nearly the whole mantle has evolved by plate subduction-induced crustal recycling during formation of the continental crust. This mixing back of subducted oceanic crust, however, is not straightforward, because it generally would be denser than the surrounding mantle, both in solid and liquid states. A mineral segregation model is proposed here to reconcile different lines of observation. First of all, subducted oceanic crustal sections are denser than the surrounding mantle, such that they can stay in the lower mantle, for billions of years as implied by isotopic data. Parts of subducted oceanic crust may eventually lose a large proportion of their heavy minerals, magnesian-silicate-perovskite and calcium-silicate-perovskite, through density segregation in ultra-low-velocity zones as well as in very-low-velocity provinces at the core-mantle boundary due to low viscosity. The remaining minerals would thus become lighter than the surrounding mantle, and could rise, trapping mantle materials, and forming mantle plumes. Mineral segregation progressively increases the SiO₂ content of the ascending oceanic crust, which enhances flux melting, and results in giant Si-enriched plume heads followed by dramatically abridged plume tails. Therefore, ancient mineral-segregated subducted oceanic crust is likely to be a major trigger and driving force for the formation of mantle plumes.     

High-pressure blueschists and eclogites in Hong'an: a framework for addressing the evolution of high- and ultrahigh-pressure rocks in central China

The Hong'an region in the Qinling–Dabie collisional zone in eastern China hosts a series of metamorphic rocks exposing a south-to-north distribution from blueschist/blueschist–greenschist, amphibolite, eclogite (kyanite free) and kyanite–eclogite to coesite–eclogite facies rocks that represent progressively deeper levels of the Mesozoic subduction–collision complex. The Hong'an area is interesting for three reasons: (1) it escaped the thermal and structural overprint imparted on much of the Dabie Mountains during Early Cretaceous intrusion of voluminous granites and granodiorites; (2) the high-pressure (HP) Hong'an eclogites are widely distributed, often preserve prograde crystallization histories and can be directly linked in time and space to the blueschist/blueschist–greenschist rocks exposed to the south; (3) the blueschist/blueschist–greenschist facies rocks are generally better exposed than their equivalents in the southeastern Dabie Mountains and offer some opportunity for simultaneous structural and metamorphic analysis. The Hong'an area HP rocks offer perhaps the closest approximation to a preserved snapshot of Mesozoic pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions attending early subduction–exhumation in the region, and are thus essential to generating a coherent picture of the dynamics attending both metamorphism and exposure of the coeval ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks. The purpose of this contribution is twofold: (1) to document previously unpublished metamorphic and structural data characterizing these HP sequences and their relative continuity in Hong'an; (2) to incorporate these data with recent geochronologic, structural and paleomagnetic information in the context of protracted, late Paleozoic through Mesozoic subduction, collision and exhumation. Metamorphism and exhumation of some of the southern Hong'an HP sequences appear to have occurred concomitant with oceanic subduction immediately to the west, and thus may have preceded widespread continental subduction/collision. Moreover, all of the HP–UHP sequences in the region were exhumed before the end of collision between the Sino-Korean and Yangtze cratons at ca. 160 Ma. Exhumation of HP–UHP rocks both before and during continental plate collision is neither novel for central China nor for other HP–UHP zones, but is important to take into account when reconstructing the evolution of such orogens.     

俯冲洋壳的折返及其相关问题讨论

大洋俯冲带中高压(HP)和超高压(UHP)岩石的折返机制一直以来都是俯冲工厂中最不为人知的问题之一.本文根据搜集全球折返到地表的洋壳榴辉岩基础数据(包括岩石学特征、峰期温压条件和折返P-T轨迹),初步探讨了洋壳榴辉岩的折返机制.根据峰期矿物组合、温压条件和对应的地温梯度,典型大洋俯冲带中的榴辉岩可以分为三类:含柯石英的UHP硬柱石榴辉岩(2.7～ 3.2GPa,470 ～ 610℃,5～7℃/km)、HP硬柱石榴辉岩(1.7～2.6GPa,360～ 620℃,5～8℃/km)和HP绿帘石榴辉岩(1.5 ～2.3 GPa,540 ～ 630℃,7～12℃/km).与大陆俯冲碰撞造山带中的HP-UHP榴辉岩相比,洋壳榴辉岩具有较低的峰期温压条件和较高的低密度含水矿物的含量,但是普遍缺失高密度的蓝晶石.已有的俯冲洋壳的折返模式都基于一个假设:洋壳榴辉岩密度比周围地幔大.因此,洋壳榴辉岩的折返必须借助于低密度的蛇纹岩或者变沉积岩.MORB体系的热力学模拟研究表明,俯冲洋壳的矿物组合、矿物含量和密度主要受低密度含水矿物(如硬柱石、绿泥石、蓝闪石和滑石等)的稳定性控制,并且在同等深度条件下,冷俯冲洋壳的密度低于热俯冲洋壳的密度.经历冷俯冲(～6℃/km)洋壳的密度在＜ 110～ 120km(P ＜3.3 ～ 3.6GPa)的深度仍小于周围地幔,但是经历热俯冲(～ 1O℃/km)洋壳的密度在＞60km(P＞1.8GPa)的深度就已经超过周围地幔.结合高温高压实验资料和地球物理观察数据,我们认为在＞120km的深度,俯冲基性洋壳本身密度大于周围地幔,不存在低密度的地幔楔蛇纹岩(蛇纹石已发生分解),并且大洋板块的俯冲角度突然增大可能阻碍了更深部的低密度变沉积岩的折返.以上这三个方面的原因可能导致现今折返到地表的洋壳榴辉岩和变沉积岩的形成深度普遍小于120km.折返过程中硬柱石脱水分解会导致洋壳密度增大,退变形成的蓝晶石榴辉岩的密度大于周围地幔,无法折返,这可能是全球洋壳榴辉岩中普遍缺失蓝晶石的主要原因.     

Evidence for distinct proportions of subducted oceanic crust and lithosphere in HIMU-type mantle beneath El Hierro and La Palma, Canary Islands

Shield-stage high-MgO alkalic lavas from La Palma and El Hierro (Canary Islands) have been characterized for their O-Sr-Nd-Os-Pb isotope compositions and major-, trace-, and highly siderophile-element (HSE: Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, Pd, Re) abundances. New data are also reported for associated evolved rocks, and entrained xenoliths. Clear differences in Pd/Ir and isotopic ratios for high Os (>50 ppt) lavas from El Hierro (δ¹⁸O_olivine = 5.17 ± 0.08‰; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7029 to 0.7031; ε_Nd = +5.7 to +7.1; ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.1481 to 0.1750; ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 19.1 to 19.7; Pd/Ir = 6 ± 3) versus those from La Palma (δ¹⁸O_olivine = 4.87 ± 0.18‰; ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.7031 to 0.7032; ε_Nd = +5.0 to +6.4; ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.1421 to 0.1460; ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 19.5 to 20.2; Pd/Ir = 11 ± 4) are revealed from the dataset.Crustal or lithospheric assimilation during magma transport cannot explain variations in isotopic ratios or element abundances of the lavas. Shallow-level crystal-liquid fractionation of olivine, clinopyroxene and associated early-crystallizing minerals (e.g., spinel and HSE-rich phases) controlled compatible element and HSE abundances; there is also evidence for sub-aerial degassing of rhenium. High-MgO lavas are enriched in light rare earth elements, Nb, Ta, U, Th, and depleted in K and Pb, relative to primitive mantle abundance estimates, typical of HIMU-type oceanic island basalts. Trace element abundances and ratios are consistent with low degrees (2-6%) of partial melting of an enriched mantle source, commencing in the garnet stability field (?110 km). Western Canary Island lavas were sulphur undersaturated with estimated parental melt HSE abundances (in ppb) of 0.07 ± 0.05 Os, 0.17 ± 0.16 Ir, 0.34 ± 0.32 Ru, 2.6 ± 2.5 Pt, 1.4 ± 1.2 Pd, 0.39 ± 0.30 Re. These estimates indicate that Canary Island alkali basalts have lower Os, Ir and Ru, but similar Pt, Pd and Re contents to Hawai’ian tholeiites.The HIMU affinities of the lavas, in conjunction with the low δ¹⁸O_olivine and high ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb for La Palma, and elevated ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os for El Hierro implies melting of different proportions of recycled oceanic crust and lithosphere. Our preferred model to explain isotopic differences between the islands is generation from peridotitic mantle metasomatised by <10% pyroxenite/eclogite made from variable portions of similar aged recycled oceanic crust and lithosphere. The correspondence of radiogenic ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os, elevated Re/Os and Pt/Os, and low-δ¹⁸O in western Canary Island lavas provides powerful support for recycled oceanic crust and lithosphere to generate the spectrum of HIMU-type ocean island basalt signatures. Persistence of geochemical heterogeneities throughout the stratigraphies of El Hierro and La Palma demonstrate long-term preservation of these recycled components in their mantle sources over relatively short-length scales (∼50 km).     

Prograde high- to ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism and exhumation of oceanic sediments at Lago di Cignana, Zermatt-Saas Zone, western Alps

Pelagic metasediments and MORB-type metabasalts of the former Tethyan oceanic crust at Cignana, Valtournanche, Italy, experienced UHP metamorphism and subsequent exhumation during the Early to Late Tertiary. Maximum PT conditions attained during UHP metamorphism were 600–630 °C, 2.7–2.9 GPa, which resulted in the formation of coesite-glaucophane-eclogites in the basaltic layer and of garnet-dolomite-aragonite-lawsonite-coesite-phengite-bearing calc-schists and garnet-phengite-coesite-schists with variable amounts of epidote, talc, dolomite, Na-pyroxene and Na-amphibole in the overlying metasediments. During subduction the rocks followed a prograde HP/UHP path which in correspondance with the Jurassic age of the Tethyan crust reflects the thermal influence of relatively old and cold lithosphere and of low to moderate shear heating. Inflections on the prograde metamorphic path may correspond to thermal effects that arise from a decrease in shear heating due to brittle-plastic transition in the quartz-aragonite-dominated rocks, induced convection in the asthenospheric mantle wedge and/or heat consumption by endothermic reactions over a restricted PT segment during subduction. After detachment from the downgoing slab some 50–70 Ma before present, the Cignana crustal slice was first exhumed to ca. 60 km and concomitantly cooled to ca. 550 °C, tracing back the UHP/HP prograde path displaced by 50–80 °C to higher temperatures. Exhumation at this stage is likely to have occurred in the Benioff zone, while the subduction of cool lithosphere was going on. Subsequently, the rocks were near-isothermally exhumed to ca. 30 km, followed by concomitant decompression and cooling to surface conditions (at < 500 °C, < 1 GPa). During this last stage the UHPM slice arrived at its present tectonic position with respect to the overlying greenschist-facies Combin zone. In contrast to the well-preserved HP/UHPM record of the coesite-glaucophane eclogites, the HP/UHP assemblages of the metasediments have been largely obliterated during exhumation. Relics from which the metamorphic evolution of the rocks during prograde HP metamorphism and the UHP stage can be retrieved are restricted to rigid low-diffusion minerals like garnet, dolomite, tourmaline and apatite.     

Younger and older zircons from rocks of the oceanic lithosphere in the Central Atlantic and their geotectonic implications

Local U-Pb dating of zircons separated from various rocks in the crest zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and Carter Seamount (Sierra Leone Rise) is performed. Younger zircons formed in situ in combination with older xenogenic zircons are revealed in enriched basalts, alkaline volcanic rocks, gabbroic rocks, and plagiogranites. Only older zircons are found in depleted basalts and peridotites. Older zircons are ubiquitous in the young oceanic lithosphere of the Central Atlantic. The age of the younger zircons from the crest zone of the MAR ranges from 0.38 to 11.26 Ma and progressively increases receding from the axial zone of the ridge. This fact provides additional evidence for spreading of the oceanic floor. The rate of half-spreading calculated from the age of the studied zircons is close to the rate of half-spreading estimated from magnetic anomalies. The age of the younger zircons from Carter Seamount (58 Ma) corresponds to the age of the volcanic edifice. Older zircons make up an age series from 53 to 3200 Ma. Clusters of zircons differing in age reveal quasiperiodicity of about 200 Ma, which approximately corresponds to the global tectonic epochs in the geological evolution of the Earth. Several age groups of older zircons combine grains close in morphology and geochemistry: (1) Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic (53–700 Ma) prismatic grains with slightly resorbed faces, well-preserved or translucent oscillatory zoning, and geochemical features inherent to magmatic zircons; (2) prismatic grains dated at 1811 Ma with resorbed faces and edges, fragmentary or translucent zoning, and geochemical features inherent to magmatic zircons; (3) ovoid and highly resorbed prismatic grains with chaotic internal structure and metamorphic geochemical parameters; the peak of their ages is 1880 Ma. The performed study indicates that older xenogenic zircons from young rocks in the crest zone of the MAR were captured by melt or incorporated into refractory restite probably in the sublithospheric mantle at the level of magma generation in the asthenosphere. It is suggested that zircons could have crystallized from the melts repeatedly migrating through the asthenosphere during geological history or were entrapped by the asthenosphere together with blocks of disintegrated and delaminated continental lithosphere in the process of breakup of the continents older than Gondwana. The variability in the age of older zircons even within individual samples may be regarded as evidence for active stirring of matter as a result of periodically arising and destroyed within-asthenospheric convective flows varying in orientation and scale.     

Microcrystalline diamonds in the oceanic lithosphere and their nature

The carbon isotope composition of microdiamonds found in products of the Tolbachik Volcano eruption, Kamchatka (porous lavas and ash), was studied. The isotope composition of microdiamonds (with an average value of δ¹³C =–25.05‰) is close to that of microsized carbon particles in lavas (from–28.9 to–25.3‰). The general peculiarities of the diamond-forming environment include (1) no evidence for high pressure in the medium; (2) a reduced environment; and (3) mineralogical evidence for the presence of a fluid. The geochemical data characterizing the type of diamonds studied allow us to suggest that they were formed in accordance with the mechanism of diamond synthesis during cavitation in a rapidly migrating fluid, which was suggested by E.M. Galimov.     

冈底斯新近纪钾质火山作用:消减沉积物折返的地球化学与Sr-Nd-Pb同位素证据

在冈底斯岩浆岩带的羊八井地区,林子宗火山岩系上部出现小规模的粗面质火山岩.岩石学与地球化学研究表明粗面岩与时空密切相关的大体积安山质-英安质-流纹质火山岩属于不同的火山岩系:碱性钾质系列与钙碱性系列.详细的地球化学研究证明林子宗晚期小体积钾质岩具有独立的岩浆源区,而非早期钙碱性系统低压岩浆过程演化的产物.粗面质熔岩SiO2含量为62.91%～64.63%,具有高K2O(7.52%～8.05%)、Al2O3(16.64%-17.35%)、低TiO2(0.59%～0.68%)与MsO(0.15%～0.77%).钾质熔岩富集LILE与LREE,亏损HFSE,具有高Rb/Sr(1.1～2.3)、Th/La(0.59～0.80)、Th/U(6.3～10.9)和低Ce/Pb(4.1～6.2)与Ba/Th(4.3～14.5)比值,其同位素组成变化范围分别是87Sr/86Sr(I)=0.7068～0.7075、143Nd/144Nd(I)=0.51241～0.51252、206Pb/204Pb=18.87～18.95、207Pb/204Pb=15.63～15.70和208Pb/204Pb=39.24～39.68.粗面岩的地球化学与同位素特征表明冈底斯新近纪钾质火山岩来源于角闪岩相的消减沉积物熔融.因此,羊八井新近纪钾质火山熔岩提供了印度-亚洲大陆碰撞早期消减沉积物折返的证据.     

The Macquarie Island ophiolite complex: Mid-Tertiary oceanic lithosphere from a major ocean basin

The rocks of Macquarie Island are part of the mid-Tertiary oceanic lithosphere from a major ocean basin. They were probably created at the Indian—Australian—Pacific spreading ridge.The basalts and dolerites are usually porphyritic, carry plagioclase (An_87-80) as a dominant phenocryst phase with less abundant olivine (Fo_89-85), chrome spinel and rare clinopyroxene (Ca₄₅Mg₅₀Fe₅|Ca₃₈Mg₅₀Fe₁₂) phenocrysts. Normatively the rocks range from ne- to Q-bearing, with most falling near the critical plane of normative silica undersaturation. Dykes tend to be more Fe-rich than lavas, and to include the more di-poor rocks. The rocks also range compositionally from typical ocean floor basalts through to varieties relatively enriched in some incompatible trace elements, particularly Nb (20–60 ppm), that otherwise retain ocean-floor basalt phenocryst assemblages, major-element compositions and Ti, Ni, Cr and Zr contents. This enrichment, also characteristic of ocean-floor basalts from the “abnormal” ridge segments near 45° N and 36° N (FAMOUS area) on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, causes the rocks to plot away from the ocean-floor basalt fields on popular trace-element diagrams intended to identify tectonic affinities of basalts.The upper parts of the Macquarie Island oceanic lithosphere section can be thought of as a vertical slice through a magma column, differentiating at shallow levels. The layered and massive gabbros that underlie the basalts and dolerites are composed essentially of olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Olivine and plagioclase are cumulate phases in the layered rocks, clinopyroxene is postcumulus. Mineral compositions of the gabbros, particularly those of the layered rocks, are closely resembled by phenocryst compositions in the basalts and dolerites. Plagiogranites and trondheimites are unknown from the island, and norites very rare. Thus, Macquarie Island basalts, dolerites and gabbros form a distinctive igneous association that ought to make Macquarie Island-type ophiolite complexes from major ocean basins an easily recognized ophiolite type in continental orogenic terranes, even when dismembered.     

The fate of subducted continental margins: Two-stage exhumation of the high-pressure to ultrahigh-pressure Western Gneiss Region, Norway

Thermobarometry suggests that ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) to high‐pressure (HP) rocks across the Western Gneiss Region ponded at the Moho following as much as 100 km of exhumation through the mantle and before exhumation to the upper crust. Eclogite across the c. 22 000 km² study area records minimum pressures of c. 8–18 kbar and temperatures of c. 650–780 °C. One orthopyroxene eclogite yields an UHP of c. 28.5 kbar, and evidence of former coesite has been found c. 50 km farther east than previously known. Despite this widespread evidence of UHP to HP, thermobarometry of metapelite and garnet amphibolite samples reveals a surprisingly uniform ‘supra‐Barrovian’ amphibolite‐facies overprint at c. 11 kbar and c. 650–750 °C across the entire area. Chemical zoning analysis suggests that garnet in these samples grew during heating and decompression, presumably during the amphibolite‐facies event. These data indicate that the Norwegian UHP/HP province was exhumed from mantle depths of c. 150 km to lower crustal depths, where it stalled and underwent a profound high‐temperature overprint. The ubiquity of late‐stage supra‐Barrovian metamorphic overprints suggests that large‐scale, collisional UHP terranes routinely stall at the continental Moho where diminishing body forces are exceeded by boundary forces. Significant portions of the middle or lower crust worldwide may be formed from UHP terranes that were arrested at the Moho and never underwent their final stage of exhumation.     

On melting of the subducted oceanic crust: Effects of subduction induced mantle flow

Based on petrological and geochemical arguments, it is possible that arc magma is derived from subducted oceanic crust. In this paper, regional thermal models have been constructed to study the feasibility of melting cold subducted oceanic crusts at shallow depth (i.e. at depths of about 100 km) by a dynamic mantle. Calculated results suggest that plate subduction will generate an induced flow in the wedge above the subducting slab. This current continuously feeds hot mantle material into the corner and onto the slab surface. A high temperature thermal environment can be maintained in the vicinity of the wedge corner, immediately beneath the over-riding plate. Our regional models further demonstrate quantitatively that production of local melting is possible just about 30 km down dip from the asthenosphere wedge corner. Additional geological processes such as reasonable amounts of shear heating and minor dehydration (which will lower the local melting temperature) will further increase the probability of melting a cold subducted oceanic crust at shallow depth.     

Geochemistry of oceanic carbonatites compared with continental carbonatites: mantle recycling of oceanic crustal carbonate

Major and trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb-O-C isotopic compositions are presented for carbonatites from the Cape Verde (Brava, Fogo, Sáo Tiago, Maio and Sáo Vicente) and Canary (Fuerteventura) Islands. Carbonatites show pronounced enrichment in Ba, Th, REE, Sr and Pb in comparison to most silicate volcanic rocks and relative depletion in Ti, Zr, Hf, K and Rb. Calcio (calcitic)-carbonatites have primary (mantle-like) stable isotopic compositions and radiogenic isotopic compositions similar to HIMU-type ocean island basalts. Cape Verde carbonatites, however, have more radiogenic Pb isotope ratios (e.g. ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=19.3-20.4) than reported for silicate volcanic rocks from these islands (18.7-19.9; Gerlach et al. 1988; Kokfelt 1998). We interpret calcio-carbonatites to be derived from the melting of recycled carbonated oceanic crust (eclogite) with a recycling age of ~1.6 Ga. Because of the degree of recrystallization, replacement of calcite by secondary dolomite and elevated ‘¹³C and ‘¹⁸O, the major and trace element compositions of the magnesio (dolomitic)-carbonatites are likely to reflect secondary processes. Compared with Cape Verde calcio-carbonatites, the less radiogenic Nd and Pb isotopic ratios and the negative Ɨ/4 of the magnesio-carbonatites (also observed in silicate volcanic rocks from the Canary and Cape Verde Islands) cannot be explained through secondary processes or through the assimilation of Cape Verde crust. These isotopic characteristics require the involvement of a mantle component that has thus far only been found in the Smoky Butte lamproites from Montana, which are believed to be derived from subcontinental lithospheric sources. Continental carbonatites show much greater variation in radiogenic isotopic composition than oceanic carbonatites, requiring a HIMU-like component similar to that observed in the oceanic carbonatites and enriched components. We interpret the enriched components to be Phanerozoic through Proterozoic marine carbonate (e.g. limestone) recycled through shallow, subcontinental-lithospheric-mantle and deep, lower-mantle sources.     

大别山超高压变质带内浅变质岩层再认识

本文依据浅变质岩层所保存的韵律层理、沉积构造、火山角砾一凝灰结构及残存的微古植物组合等,以及硅酸盐、稀土、微量元素分析成果的判别,对浅变质岩层进行了再认识,认定该浅变质岩是一套经受浅变质作用改造的火山碎屑沉积岩层;并就建立其地层序列,区域地层对比进行了论述;对其存在意义和时代归属进行了讨论.     

Production and recycling of oceanic crust in the early Earth

Because of the strongly different conditions in the mantle of the early Earth regarding temperature and viscosity, present-day geodynamics cannot simply be extrapolated back to the early history of the Earth. We use numerical thermochemical convection models including partial melting and a simple mechanism for melt segregation and oceanic crust production to investigate an alternative suite of dynamics which may have been in operation in the early Earth. Our modelling results show three processes that may have played an important role in the production and recycling of oceanic crust: (1) Small-scale (x×100 km) convection involving the lower crust and shallow upper mantle. Partial melting and thus crustal production takes place in the upwelling limb and delamination of the eclogitic lower crust in the downwelling limb. (2) Large-scale resurfacing events in which (nearly) the complete crust sinks into the (eventually lower) mantle, thereby forming a stable reservoir enriched in incompatible elements in the deep mantle. New crust is simultaneously formed at the surface from segregating melt. (3) Intrusion of lower mantle diapirs with a high excess temperature (about 250 K) into the upper mantle, causing massive melting and crustal growth. This allows for plumes in the Archean upper mantle with a much higher excess temperature than previously expected from theoretical considerations.     

Highly depleted oceanic lithosphere in the Rheic Ocean: Implications for Paleozoic plate reconstructions

The Rheic Ocean formed at ca. 500 Ma, when several peri-Gondwanan terranes (e.g. Avalonia and Carolinia) drifted from the northern margin of Gondwana, and were consumed during the Late Carboniferous collision between Laurussia and Gondwana, a key event in the formation of Pangea. Several mafic complexes ranging in age from ca. 400–330 Ma preserve many of the lithotectonic and/or chemical characteristics of ophiolites. They are characterized by anomalously high εNd values that are typically either between or above the widely accepted model depleted mantle curves. These data indicate derivation from a highly depleted (HD) mantle and imply that (i) the mantle source of these complexes displays time-integrated depletion in Nd relative to Sm, and (ii) depletion is the result of an earlier melting event in the mantle from which basalt was extracted. The extent of mantle depletion indicates that this melting event occurred in the Neoproterozoic, possibly up to 500 million years before the Rheic Ocean formed. If so, the mantle lithosphere that gave rise to the Rheic Ocean mafic complexes must have been captured from an adjacent, older oceanic tract. The transfer of this captured lithosphere to the upper plate enabled it to become preferentially preserved. Possible Mesozoic–Cenozoic analogues include the capture of the Caribbean plate or the Scotia plate from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceanic realm. Our model implies that virtually all of the oceanic lithosphere generated during the opening phase of the Rheic Ocean was consumed by subduction during Laurentia–Gondwana convergence.     

Earth''s earliest continental lithosphere, hydrothermal flux and crustal recycling

The Kaapvaal craton in southern Africa and the Pilbara craton of northwestern Australia are the largest regions on Earth to have retained relatively pristine mid-Archaean rocks (3.0–4.0 Ga).The Kaapvaal craton covers about 1.2×10⁶ km², and varies in lithospheric thickness between 170 and 350 km. At surface, the craton can be subdivided into a number of Archaean sub-domains; some of the subdomains are also well defined at depth, and local variations in tomography of the lithosphere correspond closely with subdomain boundaries at surface.The Archaean history of the Kaapvaal craton spans about 1 Gyr and can be conveniently subdivided into two periods, each of about the same length as the Phanerozoic. The first period, from circa 3.7-3.1 Ga, records the initial separation of the cratonic lithosphere from the asthenosphere, terminating with a major pulse of accretion tectonics between 3.2 and 3.1 Ga, which includes the formation of “paired metamorphic belts”. This period of continental growth can be compared to plate tectonic processes occurring in modern-day oceanic basins. However, the difference is that in the mid-Archaean, these oceanic processes appear to have occurred in shallower water depths than the modern ocean basins. The second period, from circa 3.1-2.6 Ga, records intra-continental and continental-edge processes: continental growth during this period occurred predominantly through a combination of tectonic accretion of crustal fragments and subduction-related igneous processes, in much the same way as has been documented along the margins of the Pacific and Tethys oceans since the Mesozoic.The intra-oceanic processes resulted in small, but deep-rooted continental nucleii; the first separation of this early continental lithosphere could only have occurred when the mean elevation of mid-oceanicridges sank below sea-level. Substantial recycling of continental lithosphere into the mantle must have occurred during this period of Earth history. During the second period, at least two large continental nucleii amalgamated during collisional processes which, together with internal chemical differentiation processes, created the first stable continental landmass. This landmass, which is known to have been substantially bigger than its present outline, may have been part of the Earth's first supercontinent.The oldest known subdomains of the craton include the oceanic-like rocks of the Barberton greenstone belt. The comagmatic mafic-ultramafic rocks (3.48–3.49 Ga) of this belt represent a remnant of very early oceanic-like lithosphere (known as the Jamestown Ophiolite Complex), which was obducted, approximately 45 Ma after its formation, onto a volcanic arc-like terrain by processes similar to those which have emplaced modern ophiolites at convergent margins of Phanerozoic continents. The early metamorphic history, metamorphic mineralogy, oxygen isotope profiles and degree of hydration of the 3.49 Ga Jamestown Ophiolite Complex are similar to present day subseafloor hydrothermal systems. The ratio of ΔMg to ΔSi for hydrothermally altered igneous rocks, both present day and Archaean, are remarkably uniform at −5(±0.9) and the same as that of hydrothermal fluids venting on the present-day East Pacific Rise. This observation suggests that the process of Mg exchange for Si in hydrothermal systems was commonplace throughout Earth's history.The chemistry of vent fluids and hydrothermally altered igneous rocks was combined with an inventory of ³He in the mantle to model Earth's total hydrothermal flux. An Archaean flux (at 3.5 Ga) of about 10 times present day was accompanied by a correspondingly greater abundance of Mg(OH), SiO₂, carbonate and Fe---Mn metasomatic rock types as well as massive sulphides. Assuming a constant column of seawater since the Archaean, the average residence time of seawater in the oceanic crust was 1.65−8.90×10⁵ years in the Archaean. Assuming that ³He and heat are transported from the mantle in silicate melts in uniform proportions, the model stipulates that accretion of oceanic crust decreased from about 3.43−6.5×10¹⁷ g/yr to a present-day rate of 0.52−0.8×10¹⁷ g/yr, with a drop in heat flow from 1.4−2.6×10²⁰ cal/yr to 2.1−3.2×10¹⁹ cal/year.The total amounts of SiO₂ and Fe mobilised in marine hydrothermal systems since 3.5 Ga is less than their masses in the present exosphere reservoirs (crust, hydrosphere, atmosphere). The total amounts of Mg, K, CO₂, Ca and Mn are greater than their respective masses in exosphere reservoirs; therefore, they must have been recycled into mantle. The total mass of recycled hydrothermal components is small compared to the mass of the mantle. The flux of volatiles in hydrothermal systems is large compared to their volume in the atmosphere suggesting that the CO₂ and O₂ budgets of the atmosphere have been influenced by hydrothermal processes, especially in the Archaean.     

Element mobility in mafic and felsic ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks during continental collision

In order to decipher element mobility in ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) eclogite-facies metamorphic rocks during subduction and exhumation of continental crust, major-trace elements and Sr-Nd isotopes were systematically investigated for two continuous core segments of about 3 m length from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD) project in the Sulu orogen. The segments are composed of lithological transitions between UHP eclogite and granitic gneiss. The eclogite exhibits a large variation in major and some trace elements such as LILE (e.g., Rb, Ba and K) and LREE, but a relatively limited range in HFSE and HREE. This suggests high mobility of LILE and LREE but immobility of HFSE and HREE during continental collision-zone metamorphism. Some eclogites have andesitic compositions with high SiO₂, alkalis, LREE, and LILE but low CaO, MgO and FeO contents. These features likely result from chemical exchange with gneisses, possibly due to the metasomatism of felsic melt produced by partial melting of the associated gneisses during the exhumation. On the other hand, some eclogites appear to have geochemical affinity to refractory rocks formed by melt extraction as evidenced by strong LREE and LILE depletion and the absence of hydrous minerals. These results provide evidence of melt-induced element mobility in the UHP metamorphic rocks. In particular, large variations in the abundance of such elements as SiO₂, LREE and LILE occur at the contact between eclogite and granitic gneiss, indicating their mobility between different slab components. Petrographic observations also show the presence of felsic veins on small scales in the UHP metamorphic rocks, demonstrating the occurrence of hydrous melt in local open-systems during the continental collision. As a whole, nevertheless, the protolith nature dictates the geochemical differences in both eclogite and granitic gneiss between the two core segments because mass transport during the subduction-zone metamorphism is principally dictated by the lithological differences at contact. The eclogite and granitic gneiss from the first core segment have high ε_Nd(t) values, whereas those from the second core segment show relatively low ε_Nd(t) values in concordance with majority of UHP metaigneous rocks outcropped along the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt. Thus contrasting origins of bimodal igneous rocks were involved in the continental collision, demonstrating that the subducted continental crust is the magmatic product of active rifting margin during supercontinental breakup in the middle Neoproterozoic.