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Palaeoarchaean deep mantle heterogeneity recorded by enriched plume remnants

Wang, Chao; Song, Shuguang; Wei, Chunjing; Su, Li; Allen, Mark B.; Niu, Yaoling; Li, Xian-Hua; Dong, Jinlong

Palaeoarchaean deep mantle heterogeneity recorded by enriched plume remnants Thumbnail


Authors

Chao Wang

Shuguang Song

Chunjing Wei

Li Su

Yaoling Niu

Xian-Hua Li

Jinlong Dong



Abstract

The thermal and chemical state of the early Archaean deep mantle is poorly resolved due to the rare occurrences of early Archaean magnesium-rich volcanic rocks. In particular, it is not clear whether compositional heterogeneity existed in the early Archaean deep mantle and, if it did, how deep mantle heterogeneity formed. Here we present a geochronological and geochemical study on a Palaeoarchaean ultramafic–mafic suite (3.45-Gyr-old) with mantle plume signatures in Longwan, Eastern Hebei, the North China Craton. This suite consists of metamorphosed cumulates and basalts. The meta-basalts are iron rich and show the geochemical characteristics of present-day oceanic island basalt and unusually high mantle potential temperatures (1,675 °C), which suggests a deep mantle source enriched in iron and incompatible elements. The Longwan ultramafic–mafic suite is best interpreted as the remnants of a 3.45-Gyr-old enriched mantle plume. The first emergence of mantle-plume-related rocks on the Earth 3.5–3.45 billion years ago indicates that a global mantle plume event occurred with the onset of large-scale deep mantle convection in the Palaeoarchaean. Various deep mantle sources of these Palaeoarchaean mantle-plume-related rocks imply that significant compositional heterogeneity was present in the Palaeoarchaean deep mantle, most probably introduced by recycled crustal material.

Citation

Wang, C., Song, S., Wei, C., Su, L., Allen, M. B., Niu, Y., …Dong, J. (2019). Palaeoarchaean deep mantle heterogeneity recorded by enriched plume remnants. Nature Geoscience, 12(8), 672-678. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0410-y

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 14, 2019
Online Publication Date Jul 22, 2019
Publication Date Jul 22, 2019
Deposit Date Aug 5, 2019
Publicly Available Date Jan 22, 2020
Journal Nature Geoscience
Print ISSN 1752-0894
Electronic ISSN 1752-0908
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 8
Pages 672-678
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0410-y
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1296698