Mantle and Crustal Effects on the Geochemistry of Proterozoic Dikes and Sills in Sweden

Chemical and Sr-Nd isotopic data are presented for 14 Proterozoicdolerite intrusions from Sweden. The dolerites are unmetamorphosedand belong to two age groups at 1.26 and 0.95 Ga. The analysedrocks were selected from over 80 samples characterized for initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio, and represent those from each intrusion thathave little to no crustal contamination effect on Sr isolopes.In these tholeiitic to mildly alkaline basalts, MgO varies from4 to 14%, and TiO₂ from 1.0 to 4.7%. Incompatible-element abundancepatterns show similar shapes at widely varying overall enrichmentlevels; La varies from eight to 64 times primitive mantle. Manysamples have apparent Sr anomalies; positive for the less incompatible-elementenriched rocks, negative for those with the highest abundances,Hence Sr varies by a factor of only two, whereas neighboringelements vary by a factor of seven. Small Eu anomalies correlatewith the larger Sr variations. All samples have negative Nbanomalies, correlated with _{Nd 1} values that vary from –0.5to + 3.5 for both dolerite age groups. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr₁ values aresystematically different in the two groups: 1.26-Ga doleritesvary from 0.7026 to 0.7035, and 0.95-Ga dolerites from 0.7041to 0.7051. Rather than urging any particular model of subcontinental mantleevolution, we use the dolerite results to deconvolute the effectsof crustal contamination, differentiation including crypticdifferentiation effects, and mantle-lithosphere interactionson possibly asthenosphere-derived magmas. Problems related toaddition of Rb and ⁸⁷Sr giving false isochrons, as well as raised⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from syn- or post-crystallization fluid effects, wereeliminated by the sample selection criteria. In the selecteddolerites, crustal contamination is not a major control on geochemistry,because all incompatible elements, including those of both highand low crustal abundance, are positively and similarly correlated.Overall abundances have been affected by migrations of residualmagma after much olivine and plagioclase crystallization. OnlySr is an approximate indication of the parent magma's enrichment,whereas all other incompatible elements may be depleted or enrichedby factors greater than two. On entering the crust, the magmasvaried by a factor of only two in overall incompatible-elementenrichment. They had Nb anomalies correlated with ^Nd1, and the0.95-Ga dolerites possessed higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr than had characterizedthe 1.26-Ga dolerites. All mantle effects could be interpretedas resulting from a lithospheric magma source that experiencedaddition of subduction-related components 1.9–1.7 Ga ago,and maybe locally 1.6–1.0 Ga ago. We prefer a model whereasthenosphere-derived melts interact with lithospheric wallrocks, acquiring variable _Nd down to –0.5 and Nb anomalies.Up to two-thirds of the budget of incompatible elements, butnot much Nb, were added to the magmas. Untimately, the contributionof any mantle-source is unconstrained, except that significantlithosphere has to have been involved. The mantle-related geochemicaleffects, which result in only weak constraints on process andsource, are very difficult to isolate in an objective approachto intracontinental basalts, because of superimposed differentiationand contamination effects.