Numerical Modeling of the Effect of Mantle Plume on Continental Drift: Revelation of the Rapid Drift of the Indian Tectonic Plate in Late CretaceousEI北大核心CSCD

Numerical modeling is used to investigate the interaction between mantle plume and continental lithosphere, especially the effect of the continental lithosphere structure, the scale and position of mantle plume on the rate of continental drift. Numerical results show that, under the effect of mantle plume, the existence of a thick root of the continental lithosphere affects the rate of continental drift. Moreover, under identical scale of mantle plume, the drift rate decreases with increasing thickness of the root. Besides, the velocity and distance of a continental plate drift are negatively correlated in scale of the continental lithosphere, but correlated with the scale of the mantle plume. For the model without lithospheric root, the mantle plume has a more appreciable impact on the plate drift rate when it comes closer to edge of the continental plate. Our models show that mantle plume can accelerate the continental drift by more than 10 cm/a. The modelling results can provide significant dynamical constraint and geological enlightenment. © 2018, Science Press. All right reserved.     

Heterogeneity in the mantle—its creation, evolution and destruction

Small-scale seismic heterogeneity exists at different levels in the lower mantle, and is detected by methods that analyze scattered–not direct–energy from natural and artificial sources. Its vertical distribution, association with subduction, and its ≤ 10-km characteristic scale length strongly suggest that it is chemical/petrological in nature and originally created by melting and differentiation during mid-ocean ridge formation. What is of interest is that the scale lengths of both upper and lower mantle seismic heterogeneity are similar, which supports the view of a common origin explored here. Unlike the lower mantle however, which is broadly homogeneous in structure, the upper mantle contains things that trap and impede the dispersal and re-mixing of heterogeneity: continental crust, lithosphere and cratonic roots. These probably control the depths, the longevity and the age of heterogeneities at shallow mantle levels, and suggest that heterogeneities observed in continental mantle lithosphere are probably old, trapped by the process that grows continental roots. Alternatively, if crustal heterogeneity is controlled by the details of a magmatic process, it must either be somehow continually renewed, for which there is no recognizable surface expression, or it must be depleted over time and the present is a time when, by luck, we may still witness it.     

Mantle peridotites from the Western Pacific

We review petrographical and petrological characteristics of mantle peridotite xenoliths from the Western Pacific to construct a petrologic model of the lithospheric mantle beneath the convergent plate boundary. The peridotite varies from highly depleted spinel harzburgite of low-pressure origin at the volcanic front of active arcs (Avacha of Kamchatka arc and Iraya of Luzon–Taiwan arc) to fertile spinel lherzolite of high-pressure origin at the Eurasian continental margin (from Sikhote-Alin through Korea to eastern China) through intermediate lherzolite–harzburgite at backarc side of Japan island arcs. Oxygen fugacity recorded by the peridotite xenoliths decreases from the frontal side of arc to the continental margin. The sub-arc type peridotite is expected to exist beneath the continental margin if accretion of island arc is one of the important processes for continental growth. Its absence suggests replacement by the continental lherzolite at the region of backarc to continental margin. Asthenospheric upwelling beneath the continental region, which has frequently occurred at the Western Pacific, has replaced depleted sub-cratonic peridotite with the fertile spinel lherzolite. Some of these mantle diapirs had opened backarc basins and strongly modified the lithospheric upper mantle by metasomatism and formation of Group II pyroxenites.     

俯冲循环组分对大洋地幔不均一性的定量约束

大洋地幔内部存在广泛的不均一性,其成因可有多种模式,其中俯冲循环作用对地幔组成的变化具有重要影响. 为明确各循环组分对亏损地幔的改造作用及其在富集源区中的相对贡献,系统总结了不同循环组分（远洋沉积物、俯冲洋壳、陆壳）的平均微量元素特征,计算了各循环组分在俯冲过程中经历的化学变化. 基于改造后的循环组分,开展与亏损地幔源区的混合和熔融模拟. 结果表明,HIMU型玄武岩可以由纯俯冲洋壳（≤10%）与亏损地幔（≥90%）混合形成的源区,经较低程度熔融（0.5%~1.5%）形成;而EMI型玄武岩可以由俯冲洋壳（≤10%）、俯冲剥蚀的下陆壳物质（≤3%）、亏损地幔（≥90%）混合形成的源区,经较低程度熔融（1%~2%）形成;EMII型玄武岩可以由俯冲洋壳（≤10%）、GLOSS-II（全球俯冲沉积物）或上陆壳物质（≤0.8%）与亏损地幔（≥90%）混合形成的源区,经较低程度熔融（1%~1.5%）形成.      

Composition and evolution of the continental crust: Retrospect and prospect

Until the middle of the 20th century, the continental crust was considered to be dominantly granitic. This hypothesis was revised after the Second World War when several new studies led to the realization that the continental crust is dominantly made of metamorphic rocks. Magmatic rocks were emplaced at peak metamorphic conditions in domains, which can be defined by geophysical discontinuities. Low to medium-grade metamorphic rocks constitute the upper crust, granitic migmatites and intrusive granites occur in the middle crust, and the lower crust, situated between the Conrad and Moho discontinuities, comprises charnockites and granulites. The continental crust acquired its final structure during metamorphic episodes associated with mantle upwelling, which mostly occurred in supercontinents prior to their disruption, during which the base of the crust experienced ultrahigh temperatures (>1000 °C, ultrahigh temperature granulite-facies metamorphism). Heat is provided by underplating of mantle-derived mafic magmas, as well as by a massive influx of low H₂O activity mantle fluids, i.e. high-density CO₂ and high-salinity brines. These fluids are initially stored in ultrahigh temperature domains, and subsequently infiltrate the lower crust, where they generate anhydrous granulite mineral assemblages. The brines can reach upper crustal levels, possibly even the surface, along major shear zones, where granitoids are generated through brine streaming in addition to those formed by dehydration melting in upper crustal levels.     

女山中更新世碧玄岩岩浆的起源和演化

产于大陆板内环境的女山中更新世碧玄质火山岩及其所含幔源二辉橄榄岩捕虏体的研究结果揭示，在裂谷作用初始阶段，由于软流圈地幔柱上隆减压，造成深部溶解于地幔橄榄岩高压固体矿物相中的挥发组分出溶，这些出溶的初始地幔流体相在一定部位聚集，于３０Ｍａ前，大约３７ｋｍ之下，在地幔橄榄岩中诱发同步的部分熔融和交代作用，并相应产生原生碧玄质岩浆。后者上升速度较快，既未经历壳内高位岩浆房贮集，也没有遭受大陆地壳混染，只是在输送往地表的途中伴随结晶分离作用，发生一定程度演化。     

Do We Really Need Mantle Components to Define Mantle Composition?

We discuss the concept of components in the Earth's mantle startingfrom a petrological and geochemical approach, but adopting anew method of projection of geochemical and isotopic data. Thisallows the compositional variability of magmatic associationsto be evaluated in multi-dimensional space, thus simultaneouslyaccounting for a large number of compositional variables. Wedemonstrate that ocean island basalts (OIB) and mid-ocean ridgebasalts (MORB) are derived from a marble-cake mantle, in whichdifferent degrees of partial melting of recycled lithosphere,which are heterogeneous in age and composition, contribute tothe magma genesis. This view is supported by the variabilityin the geochemical and isotopic signatures of OIB that are observedon the scale of a single ocean island as well as on that ofan ocean, mostly varying between two extreme compositions, thatare not strictly related to the commonly accepted mantle components(DMM, EMI, EMII, HIMU). Rather they are a distinctive featureof the mantle source sampled at each ocean island and are stronglydependent on the Pb isotope system. We recommend a change inperspective in studies of MORB–OIB geochemistry from onebased on physically distinct mantle components to a model basedon the existence of a marble-cake-like upper mantle. Althoughresembling the statistical upper mantle, this model impliesthat geochemical homogenization can be attained only withinthe limits of local mantle composition, so that a world-wideuniform depleted reservoir cannot be sampled by simply extendingthe volume of the region undergoing partial melting. KEY WORDS: geochemistry; isotope; mantle; OIB     

Speculations on the nature and cause of mantle heterogeneity

Hotspots and hotspot tracks are on, or start on, preexisting lithospheric features such as fracture zones, transform faults, continental sutures, ridges and former plate boundaries. Volcanism is often associated with these features and with regions of lithospheric extension, thinning, and preexisting thin spots. The lithosphere clearly controls the location of volcanism. The nature of the volcanism and the presence of ‘melting anomalies’ or ‘hotspots’, however, reflect the intrinsic chemical and lithologic heterogeneity of the upper mantle. Melting anomalies—shallow regions of ridges, volcanic chains, flood basalts, radial dike swarms—and continental breakup are frequently attributed to the impingement of deep mantle thermal plumes on the base of the lithosphere. The heat required for volcanism in the plume hypothesis is from the core. Alternatively, mantle fertility and melting point, ponding and focusing, and edge effects, i.e., plate tectonic and near-surface phenomena, may control the volumes and rates of magmatism. The heat required is from the mantle, mainly from internal heating and conduction into recycled fragments. The magnitude of magmatism appears to reflect the fertility, not the absolute temperature, of the asthenosphere. I attribute the chemical heterogeneity of the upper mantle to subduction of young plates, aseismic ridges and seamount chains, and to delamination of the lower continental crust. These heterogeneities eventually warm up past the melting point of eclogite and become buoyant low-velocity diapirs that undergo further adiabatic decompression melting as they encounter thin or spreading regions of the lithosphere. The heat required for the melting of cold subducted and delaminated material is extracted from the essentially infinite heat reservoir of the mantle, not the core. Melting in the upper mantle does not requires the instability of a deep thermal boundary layer or high absolute temperatures. Melts from recycled oceanic crust, and seamounts—and possibly even plateaus—pond beneath the lithosphere, particularly beneath basins and suture zones, with locally thin, weak or young lithosphere. The characteristic scale lengths—150 to 600 km—of variations in bathymetry and magma chemistry, and the variable productivity of volcanic chains, may reflect compositional heterogeneity of the asthenosphere, not the scales of mantle convection or the spacing of hot plumes. High-frequency seismic waves, scattering, coda studies and deep reflection profiles are needed to detect the kind of chemical heterogeneity and small-scale layering predicted from the recycling hypothesis.     

Implications of Nb/U, Th/U and Sm/Nd in plume magmas for the relationship between continental and oceanic crust formation and the development of the depleted mantle

The Nb/U and Th/U of the primitive mantle are 34 and 4.04 respectively, which compare with 9.7 and 3.96 for the continental crust. Extraction of continental crust from the mantle therefore has a profound influence on its Nb/U but little influence on its Th/U. Conversely, extraction of midocean ridge-type basalts lowers the Th/U of the mantle residue but has little influence on its Nb/U. As a consequence, variations in Th/U and Nb/U with Sm/Nd can be used to evaluate the relative importance of continental and basaltic crust extraction in the formation of the depleted (Sm/Nd enriched) mantle reservoir.This study evaluates Nb/U, Th/U, and Sm/Nd variations in suites of komatiites, picrites, and their associated basalts, of various ages, to determine whether basalt and/or continental crust have been extracted from their source region. Emphasis is placed on komatiites and picrites because they formed at high degrees of partial melting and are expected to have Nb/U, Th/U, and Sm/Nd that are essentially the same as the mantle that melted to produce them. The results show that all of the studied suites, with the exception of the Barberton, have had both continental crust and basaltic crust extracted from their mantle source region. The high Sm/Nd of the Gorgona and Munro komatiites require the elevated ratios seen in these suites to be due primarily to extraction of basaltic crust from their source regions, whereas basaltic and continental crust extraction are of subequal importance in the source regions of the Yilgarn and Belingwe komatiites. The Sm/Nd of modern midocean ridge basalts lies above the crustal extraction curve on a plot of Sm/Nd against Nb/U, which requires the upper mantle to have had both basaltic and continental crust extracted from it.It is suggested that the extraction of the basaltic reservoir from the mantle occurs at midocean ridges and that the basaltic crust, together with its complementary depleted mantle residue, is subducted to the core-mantle boundary. When the two components reach thermal equilibrium with their surroundings, the lighter depleted component separates from the denser basaltic component. Both are eventually returned to the upper mantle, but the lighter depleted component has a shorter residence time in the lower mantle than the denser basaltic component. If the difference in the recycling times for the basaltic and depleted components is ∼1.0 to 1.5 Ga, a basaltic reservoir is created in the lower mantle, equivalent to the amount of basalt that is subducted in 1.0 to 1.5 Ga, and that reservoir is isolated from the upper mantle. It is this reservoir that is responsible for the Sm/Nd ratio of the upper mantle lying above the trend predicted by extraction of continental crust on the plot of Sm/Nd against Nb/U.     

大陆板内玄武岩数据挖掘:成分多样性及在判别图中的表现

通常认为,大陆溢流玄武岩(CFB)、裂谷玄武岩(CRB)、板内玄武岩(WPB)均产于板内构造环境,其地球化学特征与OIB类似,源于富集的下地幔,与地幔柱的活动有关。本文利用GEOROC数据库对全球CFB、CRB和WPB数据进行挖掘,发现上述三类玄武岩判别图投图几乎落入了全部的构造环境域,有些甚至主要落入MORB和IAB区,而不是落入WPB区。结果表明原先的玄武岩判别图的判别功能值得商榷,尤其对大陆玄武岩来说,许多判别图都存在问题。全体CFB、CRB和WPB的地球化学成分变化巨大,暗示其源区具有强烈的不均一性:部分CFB、CRB和WPB来自富集的地幔柱,仍然具有经典的OIB的特征;部分来自MORB的源区,与MORB的再循环作用有关;部分来自岛弧岩石圈之下的亏损地幔源区,以强烈亏损Nb-Ta为特征,类似岛弧玄武岩的地球化学特征。许多地区的大陆玄武岩可分为低钛和高钛两类,低钛玄武岩大多是亏损或强烈亏损的,而高钛玄武岩通常是富集型的。本文的研究表明,富集型大陆玄武岩可能来自富集的下地幔,而亏损的和强烈亏损的玄武岩可能来自具有MORB或岛弧特征的软流圈地幔。进一步指出,源区性质可能是大陆玄武岩多样性的主控因素,其次为部分熔融程度、熔融深度、结晶分离、陆壳混染以及AFC过程。     

Hf isotope compositions and HREE variations in off-craton garnet and spinel peridotite xenoliths from central Asia

Garnet-facies continental mantle is poorly understood because the vast majority of mantle xenoliths in continental basalts are spinel peridotite. Peridotite xenoliths from Vitim (southern Siberia) and Mongolia provide some of the best samples of garnet and garnet-spinel facies off-craton lithospheric mantle. Garnets in those fertile to moderately depleted lherzolites show a surprisingly broad range of HREE abundances, which poorly correlate with modal and major oxide compositions. Some garnets are zoned and have Lu-rich cores. We argue that these features indicate HREE redistribution after the partial melting, possibly related to spinel-garnet phase transition on isobaric cooling. Most peridotites from Vitim have depleted to ultra-depleted Hf isotope compositions (calculated from mineral analyses: ε_Hf(0) = +17 to +45). HREE-rich garnets have the most radiogenic ε_Hf values and plot above the mantle Hf-Nd isotope array while xenoliths with normal HREE abundances usually fall within or near the depleted end of the MORB field. Model Hf isotope ages for the normal peridotites indicate an origin by ancient partial melt extraction from primitive mantle, most likely in the Proterozoic. By contrast, an HREE-rich peridotite yields a Phanerozoic model age, possibly reflecting overprinting of the ancient partial melting record with that related to a recent enrichment in Lu. Clinopyroxene-garnet Lu-Hf isochron ages (31-84 Ma) are higher than the likely eruption age of the host volcanic rocks (∼16 Ma). Garnet-controlled HREE migration during spinel-garnet and garnet-spinel phase transitions may be one explanation for extremely radiogenic ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf reported for some mantle peridotites; it may also contribute to Hf isotope variations in sub-lithospheric source regions of mantle-derived magmas.     

地幔柱假说及其发展

Ｍｏｒｇａｎ提出的地幔柱假说之后，基于流体力学基本方程组的定常地幔柱模式研究，认为地幔柱是地幔对流的一个组合部分。组分差异驱动的地幔柱模拟实验结果，限制了地幔柱在地球动力学中的应用。热浮力驱动的模拟实验结果得到了新的动态地幔柱模式。     

The nature of the sub-continental mantle: constraints from the major-element composition of continental flood basalts

Many continental flood basalts (CFB) have isotope and trace-element signatures that differ from those of oceanic basalts and much interest concerns the extent to which these reflect differences in their upper mantle source regions. A review of selected data sets from the Mesozoic and Tertiary CFB confirms significant differences in their major- and trace-element compositions compared with those of basalts erupted through oceanic lithosphere. In general, those CFB suites characterised by low Nb/La, high (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i and low εNd_i tend to exhibit relatively low TiO₂, CaO/Al₂O₃, Na₂O and/or Fe₂O₃, and relatively high SiO₂. In contrast, those which have high Nb/La, low (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr)_i and high εNd_i ratios, like the upper units in the Deccan Traps, have major- and trace-element compositions similar to oceanic basalts. It would appear that those CFB that have distinctive isotope and trace-element ratios also exhibit distinctive major-element contents, suggesting that major and trace elements have not been decoupled significantly during magma generation and differentiation.

When compared (at 8% MgO) with oceanic basalt trends, the displacement of many CFB to lower Na₂O, Fe₂O₃^*, TiO₂ and CaO/Al₂O₃, but higher SiO₂, at similar Mg#, is not readily explicable by crustal contamination. Rather, it reflects source composition and/or the effects of the melting processes. The model compositions of melts produced by decompression of mantle plumes beneath continental lithosphere have relatively low SiO₂ and high Fe₂O₃^*. In contrast, the available experimental data indicate that partial melts of peridotite have low TiO₂, Na₂O and Fe₂O₃^*CaO/Al₂O₃, if the peridotite has been previously depleted by melt extraction. Moreover, melting of hydrated, depleted peridotite yields SiO₂-rich, Fe₂O₃- and CaO-poor melts. Since anhydrous, depleted peridotite has a high-temperature solidus, it is argued that the source of these CFB was variably melt depleted and hydrated mantle, inferred to be within the lithosphere. Isotope data suggest these source regions were often old and relatively enriched in incompatible trace elements, and it is envisaged that H₂O±CO₂ were added at the same time as the incompatible elements. An implication is that a significant proportion of the new continental crust generated since the Permian reflected multistage processes involving mobilization of continental mantle lithosphere that was enriched in minor and trace elements during the Proterozoic.     

Contribution of syncollisional felsic magmatism to continental crust growth: A case study of the Paleogene Linzizong volcanic Succession in southern Tibet

The Linzizong volcanic succession (~ 65–45 Ma) and the coeval batholiths (~ 60−40 Ma) of andesitic to rhyolitic composition represent a magmatic response to the India–Asia continental collision that began at ~ 70–65 Ma and ended at ~ 45–40 Ma with convergence continuing to present. These syncollisional felsic magmatic rocks are widely distributed along much of the > 1500 km long Gangdese Belt immediately north of the India–Asia suture (Yarlung–Zangbo) in southern Tibet. Our study of the Linzizong volcanic rocks from the Linzhou Basin (near Lhasa) suggests that syncollisional felsic magmatism may in fact account for much of the net contribution to continental crust growth. These volcanic rocks show a first-order temporal change from the andesitic lower Dianzhong Formation (64.4–60.6 Ma), to the dacitic middle Nianbo Formation (~ 54 Ma), and to the rhyolitic upper Pana Formation (48.7–43.9 Ma). The three formations show no systematic but overlapping Nd–Sr isotope variations. The isotopically depleted samples with ε_Nd(t) > 0 indicate that their primary sources are of mantle origin. The best source candidate in the broad context of Tethyan ocean closing and India–Asia collision is the remaining part of the Tethyan ocean crust. This ocean crust melts when reaching its hydrous solidus during and soon after the collision in the amphibolite facies, producing andesitic melts parental to the Linzizong volcanic succession (and the coeval batholiths) with inherited mantle isotopic signatures. Ilmenite as a residual phase (plus the effect of residual amphibole) of amphibolite melting accounts for the depletion of Nb, Ta and Ti in the melt. The effect of ocean crust alteration plus involvement of mature crustal materials (e.g., recycled terrigeneous sediments) enhances the abundances of Ba, Rb, Th, U, K and Pb in the melt, thus giving the rocks an “arc-like” geochemical signature. Residual amphibole that possesses super-chondritic Nb/Ta ratio explains the sub-chondritic Nb/Ta ratio in the melt; residual plagioclase explains the slightly depleted, not enriched, Sr (and Eu) in the melt, typical of continental crust. These observations and reasoning plus the remarkable compositional similarity between the andesitic lower Dianzhong Formation and the model bulk continental crust corroborates our proposal that continental collision zones may be sites of net crustal growth (juvenile crust) through process of syncollisional felsic magmatism. While these interpretations are reasonable in terms of straightforward petrology, geochemistry and tectonics, they require further testing.     

Geochemistry of rare high-Nb basalt lavas: Are they derived from a mantle wedge metasomatised by slab melts?

Compositionally, high-Nb basalts are similar to HIMU (high U/Pb) ocean island basalts, continental alkaline basalts and alkaline lavas formed above slab windows. Tertiary alkaline basaltic lavas from eastern Jamaica, West Indies, known as the Halberstadt Volcanic Formation have compositions similar to high-Nb basalts (Nb > 20 ppm). The Halberstadt high-Nb basalts are divided into two compositional sub-groups where Group 1 lavas have more enriched incompatible element concentrations relative to Group 2. Both groups are derived from isotopically different spinel peridotite mantle source regions, which both require garnet and amphibole as metasomatic residual phases. The Halberstadt geochemistry demonstrates that the lavas cannot be derived by partial melting of lower crustal ultramafic complexes, metasomatised mantle lithosphere, subducting slabs, continental crust, mantle plume source regions or an upper mantle source region composed of enriched and depleted components. Instead, their composition, particularly the negative Ce anomalies, the high Th/Nb ratios and the similar isotopic ratios to nearby adakite lavas, suggests that the Halberstadt magmas are derived from a compositionally variable spinel peridotite source region(s) metasomatised by slab melts that precipitated garnet, amphibole, apatite and zircon. It is suggested that high-Nb basalts may be classified as a distinct rock type with Nb > 20 ppm, intraplate alkaline basalt compositions, but that are generated in subduction zones by magmatic processes distinct from those that generate other intraplate lavas.     

Trace element geochemistry of primary mantle minerals in spinel‐peridotites from polygenetic MOR–SSZ suites of SW Turkey: constraints from an LA‐ICP‐MS study and implications for mantle metasomatism

Ophiolites exposed across the western Tauride Belt in SW Turkey represent tectonically emplaced fragments of oceanic lithosphere incorporated into continental margin following the closure of the Neotethys Ocean during the Late Cretaceous. The mantle sections of the ophiolites contain peridotites with diverse suites of geochemical signatures indicative of residual origin by melt depletion in both mid‐ocean ridge (MOR) and supra‐subduction zone (SSZ) settings. This study uses a laser‐ablation inductively‐coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) for in situ measurements of trace elements in primary mantle phases in order to identify the upper mantle petrogenetic processes effective during variable stage of melt extraction in these discrete tectonic settings and to discriminate between the effects of reaction with chemically distinct mantle melts migrating through the solid residues. Trace element signatures in pyroxenes suggest small‐length scales of compositional variations which may be interpreted to be a result of post‐melting petrogenetic processes. Relative distribution of rare earth elements and Li between coexisting orthopyroxene‐clinopyroxene pairs in the peridotites suggests compositional disequilibrium in sub‐solidus conditions, which possibly reflects differential effects of diffusive exchange during melting and melt transport or interaction with subduction melts/fluids. On the basis of Ga abundances and Ga–Ti–Fe⁺³# [Fe⁺³/(Fe⁺³ + Cr + Al)] relationships of chrome‐spinels it is documented that the peridotites have experienced the combined effects of partial melting and variable extent of melt‐solid interaction. The MOR peridotites have spinels with geochemical signatures indicative of melt‐depleted residual origin with subsequent incompatible element enrichment through melt impregnation, while the Ga–Ti–Fe⁺³# relationships of chrome‐spinels in SSZ peridotites indicate that these highly depleted peridotites are not simple melt residues, but have been subject to significant compositional modification by interaction with subduction related melts/fluids. The observed compositional variations, which are related to long‐term tectonic reorganisation of oceanic lithosphere, provide evidence for a time integrated evolution from a mid‐ocean ridge to a supra‐subduction zone setting and may be a possible analogue to explain the coexistence of geochemically diverse MOR–SSZ suites in other Tethyan ophiolites. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Continental recycling and true continental growth

Continental crust is very important for evolution of life because most bioessential elements are supplied from continent to ocean. In addition, the distribution of continent affects climate because continents have much higher albedo than ocean, equivalent to cloud. Conventional views suggest that continental crust is gradually growing through the geologic time and that most continental crust was formed in the Phanerozoic and late Proterozoic. However, the thermal evolution of the Earth implies that much amounts of continental crust should be formed in the early Earth. This is “Continental crust paradox”.Continental crust comprises granitoid, accretionary complex, and sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The latter three components originate from erosion of continental crust because the accretionary and metamorphic complexes mainly consist of clastic materials. Granitoid has two components: a juvenile component through slab-melting and a recycling component by remelting of continental materials. Namely, only the juvenile component contributes to net continental growth. The remains originate from recycling of continental crust. Continental recycling has three components: intracrustal recycling, crustal reworking, and crust–mantle recycling, respectively. The estimate of continental growth is highly varied. Thermal history implied the rapid growth in the early Earth, whereas the present distribution of continental crust suggests the slow growth. The former regards continental recycling as important whereas the latter regarded as insignificant, suggesting that the variation of estimate for the continental growth is due to involvement of continental recycling.We estimated erosion rate of continental crust and calculated secular changes of continental formation and destruction to fit four conditions: present distribution of continental crust (no continental recycling), geochronology of zircons (intracontinental recycling), Hf isotope ratios of zircons (crustal reworking) and secular change of mantle temperature. The calculation suggests some important insights. (1) The distribution of continental crust around at 2.7 Ga is equivalent to the modern amounts. (2) Especially, the distribution of continental crust from 2.7 to 1.6 Ga was much larger than at present, and the sizes of the total continental crust around 2.4, 1.7, and 0.8 Ga became maximum. The distribution of continental crust has been decreasing since then. More amounts of continental crust were formed at higher mantle temperatures at 2.7, 1.9, and 0.9 Ga, and more amounts were destructed after then. As a result, the mantle overturns led to both the abrupt continental formation and destruction, and extinguished older continental crust. The timing of large distribution of continental crust apparently corresponds to the timing of icehouse periods in Precambrian.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987114000309

In the early 1980s, evidence that crustal rocks had reached temperatures 〉1000 ℃ at normal lower crustal pressures while others had followed low thermal gradients to record pressures characteristic of mantle conditions began to appear in the literature, and the importance of melting in the tectonic evolution of orogens and metamorphic-metasomatic reworking of the lithospheric mantle was realized. In parallel, new developments in instrumentation, the expansion of in situ analysis of geological ma- terials and increases in computing power opened up new fields of investigation. The robust quantifi- cation of pressure （P）, temperature （T） and time （t） that followed these advances has provided reliable data to benchmark geodynamic models and to investigate secular change in the thermal state of the lithosphere as registered by metamorphism through time. As a result, the last 30 years have seen sig- nificant progress in our understanding of lithospheric evolution, particularly as it relates to Precambrian geodynamics.     

Mesoproterozoic rift-related alkaline magmatism at Elchuru, Prakasam Alkaline Province, SE India

The Elchuru alkaline complex in the Prakasam igneous province represents one occurrence of several alkaline bodies within the craton–Eastern Ghats Belt contact zone in Peninsular India. Nepheline syenites and associated mafic rocks intruded the cratonic crust at ≈1321 Ma and were deformed–metamorphosed to amphibolite facies condition during Pan-African times. Trace element compositions and Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systematics indicate that the alkaline magma was derived from an enriched mantle source in the sub-continental lithosphere. The adjacent crusts of the Eastern Dharwar craton and the Eastern Ghats Belt were not involved either as source or as contaminants. The enriched mantle source was at least 1.9–2.1 Ga old as seen from the depleted mantle model ages of the rocks. The primary parent magma was a basanitic liquid that fractionated ferrokaersutite and clinopyroxene in the mantle, lowering the density sufficiently for the residual melt to intrude the crust. Magmatic differentiation in the suite can be explained by a two stage fractional crystallization model involving the removal of amphibole, clinopyroxene, allanite, titanite, apatite and zircon. The rift-related intra-continental setting of the complex indicates that alkaline magmatism represents the manifestation of a Mesoproterozoic continental breakup. Rifting along the cratonic margin may have led to the formation of several cratogenic basins (e.g., Chattisgarh basin, Indravati basin etc.) where stable shelf-type sediments could have been deposited on the passive margin during the Proterozoic. It could also have opened an ocean where some of the sediments of the Eastern Ghats Province may have been deposited.     

Nature of the chemical heterogeneity of the continental lithospheric mantle

The paper reports data on the chemical composition of mantle peridotite xenoliths from kimberlites and alkaline basalts that represent the continental lithospheric mantle (CLM) beneath Early Precambrian and Late Proterozoic-Cenozoic structures, respectively. In order to identify compositional trends during the melting of primitive material and propose the most reliable criteria for constraining the conditions of this process and its degree, we analyzed literature data on the melting of spinel and garnet peridotites within broad temperature and pressure ranges. It was determined that the degree of melting (F%) of pristine peridotite of composition close to that of the primitive mantle (PM) can be deduced from the Mg/Si and Al/Si ratios in the residue; an equation was proposed for evaluating F from the Mg/Si ratio. The Ca/Al ratio of residues at low (1–1.5 GPa) pressures and degrees of melting from 2–3 to 20–25% increases several times but decreases with increasing F at pressures higher than 3 GPa. The Na partition coefficient between melt and residue decreases at increasing pressure and approaches one at a pressure close to 20 GPa. Residues after low-degree melting are strongly depleted in Ti, Zr, Y, and Nb but are enriched in Cr. The application of these criteria to the composition of xenoliths brought to the surface from the mantle occurring beneath tectonic structures of various age led us to conclude that compositional heterogeneities of CLM (particularly the variations in the concentrations of major and certain siderophile elements) are controlled, first of all, by the melting of the mantle source material. These processes occurred under various thermodynamic conditions (T, P, and $ f_{O_2 } $ f_{O_2 } ) and differed in their intensity, and this predetermined the compositional diversity of the residual mantle material (its concentrations of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Na, K, Ni, Co, V, and Cr). Our results are principally consistent with the hypothesis of the global magmatic ocean. It is thought that the early phases of its consolidation were variably controlled by the fractionation of minerals, for example, majorite. Moreover, heterogeneities in the distribution of siderophile elements could be partly predetermined by changes in the properties of these elements at ultrahigh temperatures and pressures. The processes of partial melting were the most intense during the early evolution of the mantle (perhaps, in the Early Precambrian), and hence, the mantle has different chemical composition beneath Archean cratons and Phanerozoic foldbelts.