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Evidence from Sardinian basalt geochemistry for recycling of plume heads into the Earth's mantle

Nature volume 408, pages 701–704 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Up to 10 per cent of the ocean floor consists of plateaux1—regions of unusually thick oceanic crust thought to be formed by the heads of mantle plumes. Given the ubiquitous presence of recycled oceanic crust in the mantle source of hotspot basalts, it follows that plateau material should also be an important mantle constituent. Here we show that the geochemistry of the Pleistocene basalts from Logudoro, Sardinia, is compatible with the remelting of ancient ocean plateau material that has been recycled into the mantle. The Sr, Nd and Hf isotope compositions of these basalts do not show the signature of pelagic sediments. The basalts’ low CaO/Al2O3 and Ce/Pb ratios, their unradiogenic 206Pb and 208Pb, and their Sr, Ba, Eu and Pb excesses indicate that their mantle source contains ancient gabbros formed initially by plagioclase accumulation, typical of plateau material. Also, the high Th/U ratios of the mantle source resemble those of plume magmas. Geochemically, the Logudoro basalts resemble those from Pitcairn Island, which contain the controversial EM-1 component that has been interpreted as arising from a mantle source sprinkled with remains of pelagic sediments2,3. We argue, instead, that the EM-1 source from these two localities is essentially free of sedimentary material, the geochemical characteristics of these lavas being better explained by the presence of recycled oceanic plateaux. The storage of plume heads in the deep mantle through time offers a convenient explanation for the persistence of chemical and mineralogical layering in the mantle.

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Figure 1: Plot of 143Nd/144Nd versus 87Sr/86Sr for basalts from Logudoro (Sardinia), Site 654 (sample 654-9-CC-00-04) and Pitcairn.
Figure 2: Plot of normalized Th/La versus normalized Th/Ba (ref.14) in basalts from Logudoro (Sardinia) and Pitcairn16.
Figure 3: Plot of Sr/Eu* versus Eu/Eu* in the basalts from Logudoro.
Figure 4: Lead isotope compositions of basalts from Logudoro (Sardinia), Site 654 (sample 654-9-CC-00-04), Pitcairn, Walvis ridge and Tristan da Cunha.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Murtas and A. Cosmelli for help with sample collection, and F. Frey, B. Hanan and A. Hofmann for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers, Cofinanziamento MURST and the University of Pisa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Normale Supérieure , Lyon, 69364 Cedex 07, France

    D. Gasperini, J. Blichert-Toft, P. Télouk & F. Albarède

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra Universita’ degli Studi di Pisa, Via S. Maria, 53, Pisa, 56126, Italy

    D. Gasperini & P. Macera

  3. Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, 34095 Cedex 05, France

    D. Bosch

  4. Istituto di Geocronologia e Geochimica Isotopica, CNR, Via Alfieri, 1, Ghezzano-Pisa, 56010, Italy

    A. Del Moro

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  1. D. Gasperini
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Correspondence to J. Blichert-Toft.

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Gasperini, D., Blichert-Toft, J., Bosch, D. et al. Evidence from Sardinian basalt geochemistry for recycling of plume heads into the Earth's mantle. Nature 408, 701–704 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35047049

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