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Upper-mantle dynamics revealed by helium isotope variations along the southeast Indian ridge

Nature volume 409, pages 701–703 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Helium isotope variations in igneous rocks are important for relating isotopic heterogeneity to convective mixing in the Earth's mantle. High 3He/4He ratios at many ocean islands, along with lower and relatively uniform values in mid-ocean-ridge basalts (MORBs), are thought to result from a well mixed upper-mantle source for MORB and a distinct deeper-mantle source for ocean island basalts1. At finer scales, 3He/4He variations along mid-ocean ridges have been related to underlying mantle heterogeneity2,3, but relationships between the scales of geochemical segmentation and mantle convection remain enigmatic. Here we present helium isotope data for MORB glasses recovered along ∼5,800 km of the southeast Indian ridge, and develop an approach to quantitatively relate spatial variations in geochemical and geophysical parameters at the Earth's surface. A point-to-point correlation analysis reveals structure in the helium isotope data at length scales of ∼150 and ∼400 km that appears to be related to secondary convection in the underlying mantle.

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Figure 1: Location map of Indian Ocean features.
Figure 2: 3He/4He, Fe8 and axial depth versus distance along the SEIR.
Figure 3: Spatial correlogram for 3He/4He variations along the SEIR.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Brown for computer code development, and M. Fisk, B. Hanan, G. Ito, J. Mahoney and D. Pyle for discussions. This work was supported by the NSF, the US DOE, and the NOAA Vents Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, 97331, Oregon, USA

    D. W. Graham & D. M. Christie

  2. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, 97365, Oregon, USA

    J. E. Lupton

  3. Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, 93106, California, USA

    F. J. Spera

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  1. D. W. Graham
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  4. D. M. Christie
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Correspondence to D. W. Graham.

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Graham, D., Lupton, J., Spera, F. et al. Upper-mantle dynamics revealed by helium isotope variations along the southeast Indian ridge. Nature 409, 701–703 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35055529

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