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Ancient, highly heterogeneous mantle beneath Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean

Nature volume 452, pages 311–316 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The Earth’s mantle beneath ocean ridges is widely thought to be depleted by previous melt extraction, but well homogenized by convective stirring. This inference of homogeneity has been complicated by the occurrence of portions enriched in incompatible elements. Here we show that some refractory abyssal peridotites from the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel ridge (Arctic Ocean) have very depleted 187Os/188Os ratios with model ages up to 2 billion years, implying the long-term preservation of refractory domains in the asthenospheric mantle rather than their erasure by mantle convection. The refractory domains would not be sampled by mid-ocean-ridge basalts because they contribute little to the genesis of magmas. We thus suggest that the upwelling mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges is highly heterogeneous, which makes it difficult to constrain its composition by mid-ocean-ridge basalts alone. Furthermore, the existence of ancient domains in oceanic mantle suggests that using osmium model ages to constrain the evolution of continental lithosphere should be approached with caution.

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Figure 1: Sketch map of dredge hauls on Gakkel ridge.
Figure 2: Sample composition indicating partial melting and melt refertilization histories.
Figure 3: Diagram of 187Os/188Os versus Os content and bulk Al2O3.
Figure 4: Correlation between Re/Os ratios and bulk Al 2 O 3 contents.
Figure 5: Schematic diagram of the upwelling asthenospheric mantle beneath mid-ocean ridges.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Captain and crew of PFS Polarstern expedition ARK XX/2 and the other participants in the AMORE 2001 expedition. This work was supported by the Max-Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to J.E.S. We thank N. Groschopf and D. Kuzmin for help with electron microprobe analyses, K. P. Jochum, B. Stoll and K. Herwig for help with laser ablation ICPMS measurements, K. Zentel for help with the Os-PGE experiment, and S. Shirey for comments on the manuscript. C.-Z.L. acknowledges scholarships from both Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max-Planck Society.

Author Contributions C.-Z.L. and G.B. did the Os-PGE measurements on samples collected by two Arctic expeditions proposed and carried out by J.E.S., together with E.H., A.v.d.H. and A.B., who also provided preliminary and supporting data. A.W.H. provided intellectual and material support. All authors contributed to interpretation of the results and writing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China,

    Chuan-Zhou Liu

  2. Abteilung Geochemie, Max-Planck Institut für Chemie, Mainz, 55020, Germany,

    Chuan-Zhou Liu, Jonathan E. Snow, Eric Hellebrand, Gerhard Brügmann, Anette von der Handt, Anette Büchl & Albrecht W. Hofmann

  3. College of Earth Science, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China,

    Chuan-Zhou Liu

  4. Department of Geosciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA,

    Jonathan E. Snow

  5. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA,

    Eric Hellebrand & Anette von der Handt

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Liu, CZ., Snow, J., Hellebrand, E. et al. Ancient, highly heterogeneous mantle beneath Gakkel ridge, Arctic Ocean. Nature 452, 311–316 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06688

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