Isotope geochemistry of Pantelleria volcanic fluids, Sicily Channel rift: a mantle volatile end-member for volcanism in southern Europe

Chemical and isotopic ratio (He, C, H and O) analysis of hydrothermal manifestations on Pantelleria island, the southernmost active volcano in Italy, provides us with the first data upon mantle degassing through the Sicily Channel rift zone, south of the African–European collision plate boundary. We find that Pantelleria fluids contain a CO₂–He-rich gas component of mantle magmatic derivation which, at shallow depth, variably interacts with a main thermal (100°C) aquifer of mixed marine–meteoric water. The measured ³He/⁴He ratios and δ¹³C of both the free gases (4.5–7.3 R_a and −5.8 to −4.2‰, respectively) and dissolved helium and carbon in waters (1.0–6.3 R_a and −7.1 to −0.9‰), together with their covariation with the He/CO₂ ratio, constrain a ³He/⁴He ratio of 7.3±0.1 R_a and a δ¹³C of ca. −4‰ for the magmatic end-member. These latter are best preserved in fluids emanating inside the active caldera of Pantelleria, in agreement with a higher heat flow across this structure and other indications of an underlying crustal magma reservoir. Outside the caldera, the magmatic component is more affected by air dilution and, at a few sites, by mixing with either organic carbon and/or radiogenic ⁴He leached from the U–Th-rich trachytic host rocks of the aquifer. Pantelleria magmatic end-member is richer in ³He and has a lower (closer to MORB) δ¹³C than all fluids yet analyzed in volcanic regions of Italy and southern Europe, including Mt. Etna in Sicily (6.9±0.2 R_a, δ¹³C=−3±1‰). This observation is consistent with a south to north increasing imprint of subducted crustal material in the products of Italian volcanoes, whose He and C (but also O and Sr) isotopic ratios gradually evolve towards crustal values northward of the African–Eurasian plate collision boundary. Our results for Pantelleria extend this regional isotopic pattern further south and suggest the presence of a slightly most pristine or ‘less contaminated’, ³He-richer mantle source beneath the Sicily Channel rift zone. The lower than MORB ³He/⁴He ratio but higher than MORB CO₂/³He ratio of Pantelleria volatile end-member are compatible with petro-geochemical evidence that this mantle source includes an upwelling HIMU–EM1-type asthenospheric plume component whose origin, according to recent seismic data, may be in the lower mantle.