1. Light Mg Isotopic Composition in the Mantle Beyond the Big Mantle Wedge Beneath eastern Asia.
- Author
-
He, Ye, Chen, Li‐Hui, Shi, Jin‐Hua, Zeng, Gang, Wang, Xiao‐Jun, Xue, Xiao‐Qiu, Zhong, Yuan, Erdmann, Saskia, and Xie, Lie‐Wen
- Subjects
- *
VOLCANISM , *GEOCHEMICAL surveys , *MELTING , *CARBON , *CENOZOIC paleoseismology - Abstract
Low‐δ26Mg basalts are commonly interpreted to represent melts derived from carbonated mantle sources. The mantle domain feeding low‐δ26Mg Cenozoic basalts in eastern China overlaps the so‐called Big Mantle Wedge (BMW) above the stagnant Pacific slab in the mantle transition zone, which indicates that the BMW is an important carbon reservoir generated by the slab. However, Mg isotopic composition in the nearby mantle beyond the BMW and, thus, the spatial extent of carbonated components in the mantle beneath eastern Asia have not yet been extensively characterized. Therefore, it remains largely unconstrained if additional or alternative carbon reservoirs exist. Here we carried out a geochemical study on Cenozoic Huihe nephelinites, which crop out ~500 km west of the present‐day BMW. These rocks are characterized by negative K, Zr, Hf, and Ti anomalies, high Zr/Hf, Ca/Al ratios, and low δ26Mg values, which suggest that they are derived from a carbonated mantle source. The composition of the nephelinites demonstrates that low δ26Mg mantle components exist at significant distances from the present‐day BMW, which highlights that in addition to the stagnant Pacific slab, other oceanic slab(s) also contribute(s) carbonate‐bearing crustal materials to the mantle sources of Cenozoic volcanism in eastern Asia. Key Points: Huihe nephelinites have light Mg isotopic compositions, suggesting recycled carbonated material in their mantle sourceLight Mg isotopic compositions and carbonated source components thus exist in the mantle beyond the Big Mantle Wedge beneath eastern AsiaGeochemical differences between Huihe nephelinites and Chaihe basalts can be explained by variable‐degree melting of carbonated mantle [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF