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Recycled oceanic crust observed in ‘ghost plagioclase’ within the source of Mauna Loa lavas

Nature volume 404, pages 986–990 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

The hypothesis that mantle plumes contain recycled oceanic crust1 is now widely accepted. Some specific source components of the Hawaiian plume have been inferred to represent recycled oceanic basalts2, pelagic sediments3,4 or oceanic gabbros5. Bulk lava compositions, however, retain the specific trace-element fingerprint of the original crustal component in only a highly attenuated form. Here we report the discovery of exotic, strontium-enriched melt inclusions in Mauna Loa olivines. Their complete trace-element patterns strongly resemble those of layered gabbros found in ophiolites, which are characterized by cumulus plagioclase with very high strontium abundances6. The major-element compositions of these melts indicate that their composition cannot be the result of the assimilation of present-day oceanic crust through which the melts have travelled. Instead, the gabbro has been transformed into a (high-pressure) eclogite by subduction and recycling, and this eclogite has then been incorporated into the Hawaiian mantle plume. The trace-element signature of the original plagioclase is present only as a ‘ghost’ signature, which permits specific identification of the recycled rock type. The ‘ghost plagioclase’ trace-element signature demonstrates that the former gabbro can retain much of its original chemical identity through the convective cycle without completely mixing with other portions of the former oceanic crust.

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Figure 1: Al2O3 versus MgO in lavas and inclusions.
Figure 2: Incompatible-element patterns in melt inclusions, lavas and ophiolitic gabbros normalized to the composition of primitive mantle (PM)30.
Figure 3: Sr/Ce versus La/Sm ratios of melt inclusions in olivine and host lavas, normalized to primitive mantle values30.
Figure 4: Sr/Ce, Al2O3/CaO and Al2O3/TiO2 ratios in melt inclusions versus forsterite content of host olivine.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the HSDP team for providing samples. We thank S. Simakin for ion probe analyses of inclusions; L.V. Danyushevsky for the access to PETROLOG thermodynamic modelling software; S.V. Sobolev for modelling phase compositions at high T-P; P. Kelemen for providing unpublished data on Oman Gabbro; E. Macsenaere-Riester for help with the electron microprobe analyses; F. Künstler for preparing doubly polished sections; and F. Frey, J. Eiler, L.V. Danuyshevsky, V. S. Kamenetsky, A. A. Gurenko and S. R. Hart for comments that helped to improve the clarity of the manuscript. This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (A.V.S. and I.K.N.) and an Alexander von Humboldt award (A.V.S.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie , Postfach 3060, Mainz, 55020, Germany

    Alexander V. Sobolev, Albrecht W. Hofmann & Igor K. Nikogosian

  2. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosygin Street 19, Moscow, 117975, Russia

    Alexander V. Sobolev & Igor K. Nikogosian

  3. Department of Petrology, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, Amsterdam , 1081 HV, The Netherlands

    Igor K. Nikogosian

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  1. Alexander V. Sobolev
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Correspondence to Alexander V. Sobolev.

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Sobolev, A., Hofmann, A. & Nikogosian, I. Recycled oceanic crust observed in ‘ghost plagioclase’ within the source of Mauna Loa lavas. Nature 404, 986–990 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35010098

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