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In this short communication, we present preliminary data on the Re-Os isotopic systematics of platinum-group minerals (PGM) recovered from different horizons in the Falcondo Ni-laterite in the Dominican Republic. The results show differences in the Os-isotope composition in different populations of PGM: (i) pre-lateritic PGM yield 187Os/188Os varying from 0.11973 ± 0.00134 to 0.12215 ± 0.00005 (2σ uncertainty) whereas (ii) lateritic PGM are more radiogenic in terms of 187Os/188Os (from 0.12390 ± 0.00001 to 0.12645 ± 0.00005; 2σ uncertainty). We suggest that these differences reflect the opening of the Re-Os system in individual grains of PGM during lateritic weathering. The implications of these results are twofold as they will help to (1) elucidate the small-scale mobility of noble metals in the supergene setting and therefore the possible formation of PGM at these very low temperatures, (2) better refine the Os-isotopic datasets of PGM that are currently being used for defining dynamic models of core–mantle separation, crustal generation, and fundamental plate-tectonic processes such as the opening of oceans.

Partial melting of mantle peridotites at spreading ridges is a continuous global process that forms the oceanic crust and refractory, positively buoyant residues (melt-depleted mantle peridotites). In the modern Earth, these rocks enter subduction zones as part of the oceanic lithosphere. However, in the early Earth, the melt-depleted peridotites were 2–3 times more voluminous and their role in controlling subduction regimes and the composition of the upper mantle remains poorly constrained. Here, we investigate styles of lithospheric tectonics, and related dynamics of the depleted mantle, using 2-D geodynamic models of converging oceanic plates over the range of mantle potential temperatures (Tp = 1300–1550 °C, ∆T = T − Tmodern = 0–250 °C) from the Archean to the present. Numerical modeling using prescribed plate convergence rates reveals that oceanic subduction can operate over this whole range of temperatures but changes from a two-sided regime at ∆T = 250 °C to one-sided at lower mantle temperatures. Two-sided subduction creates V-shaped accretionary terrains up to 180 km thick, composed mainly of highly hydrated metabasic rocks of the subducted oceanic crust, decoupled from the mantle. Partial melting of the metabasic rocks and related formation of sodic granitoids (Tonalite–Trondhjemite–Granodiorite suites, TTGs) does not occur until subduction ceases. In contrast, one sided-subduction leads to volcanic arcs with or without back-arc basins. Both subduction regimes produce over-thickened depleted upper mantle that cannot subduct and thus delaminates from the slab and accumulates under the oceanic lithosphere. The higher the mantle temperature, the larger the volume of depleted peridotites stored in the upper mantle. Extrapolation of the modeling results reveals that oceanic plate convergence at ∆T = 200–250 °C might create depleted peridotites (melt extraction of > 20%) constituting more than half of the upper mantle over relatively short geological times (~ 100–200 million years). This contrasts with the modeling results at modern mantle temperatures, where the amount of depleted peridotites in the upper mantle does not increase significantly with time. We therefore suggest that the bulk chemical composition of upper mantle in the Archean was much more depleted than the present mantle, which is consistent with the composition of the most ancient lithospheric mantle preserved in cratonic keels., Scientific Reports, 11, ISSN:2045-2322

Quantifying the compositional evolution of mantle-derived melts from source to surface is fundamental for constraining the nature of primary melts and deep Earth composition. Despite abundant evidence for interaction between carbonate-rich melts, including diamondiferous kimberlites, and mantle wall rocks en route to surface, the effects of this interaction on melt compositions are poorly constrained. Here, we demonstrate a robust linear correlation between the Mg/Si ratios of kimberlites and their entrained mantle components and between Mg/Fe ratios of mantle-derived olivine cores and magmatic olivine rims in kimberlites worldwide. Combined with numerical modeling, these findings indicate that kimberlite melts with highly variable composition were broadly similar before lithosphere assimilation. This implies that kimberlites worldwide originated by partial melting of compositionally similar convective mantle sources under comparable physical conditions. We conclude that mantle assimilation markedly alters the major element composition of carbonate-rich melts and is a major process in the evolution of mantle-derived magmas., Science Advances, 6 (17), ISSN:2375-2548

The Tvaerdal Complex is an eclogite-bearing metamorphic terrane in Liverpool Land at the southern tip of the Greenland Caledonides. It is a Baltic terrane that was transferred to Laurentia during the Scandian orogeny. It exposes a few small garnet dunite and harzburgite lenses, some containing parallel layers of garnet pyroxenite and peridotite (including lherzolite). Sm–Nd mineral ages from the pyroxenites indicate recrystallization occurred at the same time (≈405 Ma) as eclogite recrystallization in the enclosing gneiss. Geothermobarometry indicates these eclogites and pyroxenites shared a similar pressure-temperature history. This congruent evolution suggests pyroxenite-bearing peridotite lenses were introduced from a mantle wedge into subducted Baltic continental crust and subsequently shared a common history with this crust and its eclogites during the Scandian orogeny. Some garnet peridotite samples contain two garnet populations: one Cr-rich (3·5–6·2 wt % Cr2O3) and the other Cr-poor (0·2–1·4 wt %). Sm–Nd analyses of two such garnet peridotites define two sets of apparent ages: one older (>800 Ma) for Cr-rich garnets and the other younger (

Podiform bodies of high-Cr chromitite in the Cheshmeh-Bid chromitite deposit are located at the mantle-lower crust transition zone (MTZ) of the Late Cretaceous Khajeh-Jamali ophiolitic massifs, Iran. The unaltered core of chromian spinels has retained the

M30 M34

The Proterozoic gneisses of the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of western Norway experienced HP-UHP metamorphism during the 435-390 Ma Caledonian (Scandian) orogeny, and locally enclose numerous large bodies of Archean peridotite. Competing models for the emplacement of these peridotites into the gneisses involve either (1) upthrusting of subcontinental mantle into overlying gneisses or (2) 'sinking emplacement' of peridotites from the Laurentian mantle wedge into the upper surface of the subducting Baltica plate. The first model implies the existence of Archean lower crust below the outcropping gneisses. To evaluate these models we have carried out a regional survey of the U-Pb age, Hf isotope composition and trace-element compositions of detrital zircon grains collected from drainages in the northern half of the WGR. The zircon data indicate that the gneisses that make up the crust of the WGR were originally generated during the 1·7-1·5 Ga Gothian orogeny. The Hf isotope signatures of these zircons indicate a juvenile (i.e. mantle) origin; there is no evidence, from either inherited zircons or the Hf isotope data, that Archean crustal materials were involved in the genesis of these gneisses. The Sveconorwegian orogeny (1·3 to < 1·0 Ga) that overprinted the Gothian gneisses involved both juvenile magmatic additions to the crust and remelting of the Gothian basement; these Sveconorwegian-age magmas also show no evidence of Archean contributions. A population of zircons collected from a drainage area containing large mantle-derived peridotite bodies includes anhedral to rounded grains with distinctive trace-element patterns consistent with derivation from depleted rocks; these are inferred to be derived from the peridotites and/or their enclosed eclogites and pyroxenites. These zircons give Archean Hf model ages, but 207Pb/206Pb ages ranging from Archean to Caledonian, suggesting that the younger ages reflect resetting during later thermal events. The Archean zircon ages are consistent with Archean Re-Os model ages previously obtained on the peridotites. In the absence of any evidence for Archean crust (and hence Archean mantle) beneath southern Baltica, we infer that the peridotite massifs represent fragments of the subcontinental lithosphere beneath Laurentia, and were introduced tectonically into the gneisses during the Caledonian subduction of Baltica beneath Laurentia.

2 páginas, 1 figura.-- Trabajo presentado a la XXX Reunión de la Sociedad Española de Mineralogía, celebrada en Madrid entre el 13 y 16 de Septiembre de 2010.