Description: High-Mg, low-Ti volcanic rocks from the Manihiki Plateau in the Western Pacific share many geochemical characteristics with subduction-related boninites such as high-Ca boninites from the Troodos ophiolite on Cyprus, which are believed to originate by hydrous re-melting of previously depleted mantle. In this paper we compare the Manihiki rocks and Troodos boninites using a new dataset on the major and trace element composition of whole rocks and glasses from these locations, and new high-precision, electron microprobe analyses of olivine and Cr-spinel in these rocks. Our results show that both low-Ti Manihiki rocks and Troodos boninites could originate by re-melting of a previously depleted lherzolite mantle source (20–25% of total melting with 8–10% melting during the first stage), as indicated by strong depletion of magmas in more to less incompatible elements (Sm/Yb 〈 0.8, Zr/Y 〈 2, Ti/V 〈 12) and high-Cr-spinel compositions (Cr# 〉 0.5). In comparison with Troodos boninites, the low-Ti Manihiki magmas had distinctively lower H2O contents (〈 0.2 vs. 〉 2 wt% in boninites), ~ 100 °C higher liquidus temperatures at a given olivine Fo-number, lower fO2 (ΔQFM 〈 + 0.2 vs. ΔQFM 〉 + 0.2) and originated from deeper and hotter mantle (1.4–1.7 GPa, ~ 1440 °C vs. 0.8–1.0 GPa, ~ 1300 °C for Troodos boninites). The data provide new evidence that re-melting of residual upper mantle is not only restricted to subduction zones, where it occurs under hydrous conditions, but can also take place due to interaction of previously depleted upper mantle with mantle plumes from the deep and hotter Earth interior.

Description: The paper presents data on plutonic and metamorphic rocks dredged during Cruise 249 of the German R/V Sonne to the Stalemate Ridge, Northwest Pacific Ocean and the Shirshov Rise, western Bering Sea. Dredges in the northwestern sector of the Stalemate Ridge and central portion of the Shirshov Rise show that the plutonic and metamorphic rocks obtained here are amazingly similar. Our petrologic and geochemical data led us to view the rocks as members of a mafic–ultramafic assemblage typical of cumulate portions of ophiolite complexes and backarc spreading centers. The plutonic complexes of the Shirshov Rise and Stalemate Ridge show similarities not only in the petrography and mineralogy of their protoliths but also in the character of their metamorphic transformations. Plutonic rocks from both areas display mineralogical evidence of metamorphism within a broad temperature range: from the high-temperature amphibolite facies to the greenschist facies. Relations between the index mineral assemblages indicate that the metamorphic history of plutonic complexes in the Stalemate Ridge and Shirshov Rise proceeded along a retrograde path. Hornblende schists accompanying the plutonic rocks of the Stalemate Ridge and Shirshov Rise are petrographically close to foliated amphibolites in subophiolitic metamorphic aureoles. Within the framework of geodynamic interpretations of our results, it is realistic to suggest that the examined plutonic complexes were exhumed from subduction zones of various age.

Description: Little is known about the effects that subducting an oceanic large igneous province (LIP) has on the petrogenesis of submarine arc volcanoes and their geochemical composition. The southern Kermadec arc represents a rare example where an LIP—the Hikurangi Plateau—is currently subducting and where its effect on mantle composition, element recycling and arc volcanism can be studied. We present mineral chemistry and whole-rock major and trace element, and Sr–Nd–Pb isotope data from samples recovered from the southern Kermadec arc volcanoes Rumble II East and Rumble II West, together with shipboard gravity and magnetic measurements. The Rumble II volcanoes (including a volcanic cone ∼10 km further west) form an ∼23 km long arc–backarc transect located ∼250 km north of New Zealand above the subducting Hikurangi Plateau. Although only a short distance apart, rocks from the two volcanoes have different mineral and whole-rock geochemical compositions. Lavas from Rumble II East are predominantly basaltic and contain primitive olivine phenocrysts (≤Fo91), high-Mg# clinopyroxene (≤96) and anorthitic plagioclase (≤An97). Geochemically these lavas are very diverse and cover a spectrum from low Th/Yb (〈0·15) at high Ba/Th (〉1014) to higher Th/Yb (〉0·15) at lower Ba/Th (〈844). This spectrum, together with 206Pb/204Pb and 143Nd/144Nd in the range of 18·74–18·83 and 0·51309–0·51298 respectively (at similar to slightly elevated 87Sr/86Sr), suggests a mantle wedge that has undergone previous melt extraction and significant fluid addition from the subducting Pacific Plate and that contains sediment and HIMU-type Hikurangi Plateau components. The geochemistry of the sediment–HIMU-type components is exemplified in an olivine pyroxenite (e.g. 206Pb/204Pb = 20·02; 87Sr/86Sr = 0·70516; 143Nd/144Nd = 0·5126). We propose that the olivine pyroxenite formed through melt or fluid–rock metasomatism and represents the first direct evidence of a near Moho arc mantle rock that shows the imprint from a subducting HIMU-type (Hikurangi) seamount. Conversely, lavas from Rumble II West and the cone ∼10 km to the west are generally more silica rich than Rumble II East lavas and mainly contain plagioclase with less ortho- and clinopyroxene + olivine phenocrysts. The low Ba/Th (〈470) and 206Pb/204Pb (〈18·74), a range of 143Nd/144Nd (0·51297–0·51307) and elevated Th/Yb (0·13–0·39) in these lavas can best be explained by minor sediment input into a less depleted mantle wedge. In addition, the geochemical composition of the Rumble II West lavas does not require involvement of a Hikurangi component, placing a spatial limit on Hikurangi material influencing regional melt generation beneath the backarc. Supported by a gravity model requiring two distinct magma chambers, the different geochemical compositions of Rumble II East and West lavas are inconsistent with a shared magma plumbing system. The different geochemical compositions of lavas from the two Rumble II volcanoes furthermore demonstrate that across-arc geochemical heterogeneities can occur within a few kilometres and may originate from both a geochemically heterogeneous mantle wedge and Moho transition layer, recording inherited geochemical heterogeneities beneath the volcanoes.

Description: In this paper, we constrain the input and output fluxes of H2O, Cl and S into the southern-central Chilean subduction zone (31°S–46°S). We determine the input flux by calculating the amounts of water, chlorine and sulfur that are carried into the subduction zone in subducted sediments, igneous crust and hydrated lithospheric mantle. The applied models take into account that latitudinal variations in the subducting Nazca plate impact the crustal porosity and the degree of upper mantle serpentinization and thus water storage in the crust and mantle. In another step, we constrain the output fluxes of the subduction zone both to the subcontinental lithospheric mantle and to the atmosphere–geosphere–ocean by the combined use of gas flux determinations at the volcanic arc, volume calculations of volcanic rocks and the combination of mineralogical and geothermal models of the subduction zone. The calculations indicate that about 68 Tg/m/Ma of water enters the subduction zone, as averaged over its total length of 1,480 km. The volcanic output on the other hand accounts for 2 Tg/m/Ma or 3 % of that input. We presume that a large fraction of the volatiles that are captured within the subducting sediments (which accounts for roughly one-third of the input) are cycled back into the ocean through the forearc. This assumption is however questioned by the present lack of evidence for major venting systems of the submarine forearc. The largest part of the water that is carried into the subduction zone in the crust and hydrated mantle (accounting for two-thirds of the input) appears to be transported beyond the volcanic arc.

Description: We report major and trace element X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data for mafic volcanics covering the 15-Ma evolution of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. The Miocene (12-lS^Ma) and Pliocene-Quaternary (0-6 Ma) mafic volcanics on Gran Canaria include picrites, tholeiites, alkali basalts, basanites, nephelinites, and melilite nephelinites. Olivine±clinopyroxene are the major fractionating or accumulating phases in the basalts. Plagioclase, Fe-Ti oxide, and apatite fractionation or accumulation may play a minor role in the derivation of the most evolved mafic volcanics. The crystallization of clinopyroxene after olivine and the absence of phenocrystic plagioclase in the Miocene tholeiites and in the Pliocene and Quaternary alkali basalts and basanites with MgO〉6 suggests that fractionation occurred at moderate pressure, probably within the upper mantle. The presence of plagioclase phenocrysts and chemical evidence for plagioclase fractionation in the Miocene basalts with MgO〈6 and in the Pliocene tholeiites is consistent with cooling and fractionation at shallow depth, probably during storage in lower-crustal reservoirs. Magma generation at pressures in excess of 3-0-3-5 GPa is suggested by (a) the inferred presence of residual garnet and phlogopite and (b) comparison of FeO1 cation mole percentages and the CIPW normative compositions of the mafic volcanics with results from high-pressure melting experiments. The Gran Canaria mafic magmas were probably formed by decompression melting in an upwelling column of asthenospheric material, which encountered a mechanical boundary layer at ~ 100-km depth.

Description: The subaerial portion of Gran Canada, Canary Islands, was built by three cycles of volcanism: a Miocene Cycle (8-5—15 Ma), a Pliocene Cycle (1-8-60 Ma), and a Quaternary Cycle (1-8-0 Ma). Only the Pliocene Cycle is completely exposed on Gran Canaria; the early stages of the Miocene Cycle are submarine and the Quaternary Cycle is still in its initial stages. During the Miocene, SiO2 saturation of the mafic volcanics decreased systematically from tholeiite to nephelinite. For the Pliocene Cycle, SiO2 saturation increased and then decreased with decreasing age from nephelinite to tholeiite to nephelinite. SiO2 saturation increased from nephelinite to basanite and alkali basalt during the Quaternary. In each of these cycles, increasing melt production rates, SiO2 saturation, and concentrations of compatible elements, and decreasing concentrations of some incompatible elements are consistent with increasing degrees of partial melting in the sequence melilite nephelinite to tholeiite. The mafic volcanics from all three cycles were derived from CO2-rich garnet lherzolite sources. Phlogopite, ilmenite, sulfide, and a phase with high partition coefficients for the light rare earth elements (LREE), U, Th, Pb, Nb, and Zr, possibly zircon, were residual during melting to form the Miocene nephelinites through tholeiites; phlogopite, ilmenite, and sulfide were residual in the source of the Pliocene-Quaternary nephelinites through alkali basalts. Highly incompatible element ratios (e.g., Nb/U, Pb/Ce, K/U, Nb/Pb, Ba/Rb, Zr/Hf, La/Nb, Ba/Th, Rb/Nb, K/Nb, Zr/Nb, Th/Nb, Th/La, and Ba/La) exhibit extreme variations (in many cases larger than those reported for all other ocean island basalts), but these ratios correlate well with degree of melting. Survival of residual phases at higher degrees of melting during the Miocene Cycle and differences between major and trace element concentrations and melt production rates between the Miocene and Pliocene tholeiites suggest that the Miocene source was more fertile than the Pliocene-Quaternary source(s). We propose a blob model to explain the multi-cycle evolution of Canary volcanoes and the temporal variations in chemistry and melt production within cycles. Each cycle of volcanism represents decompression melting of a discrete blob of plume material. Small-degree nephelinitic and basanitic melts are derived from the cooler margins of the blobs, whereas the larger-degree tholeiitic and alkali basaltic melts are derived from the hotter centers of the blobs. The symmetrical sequence of mafic volcanism for a cycle, from highly undersaturated to saturated to highly undersaturated compositions, reflects melting of the blob during its ascent beneath an island in the sequence upper margin-corelower margin. Volcanic hiatuses between cycles and within cycles represent periods when residual blob or cooler entrained shallow mantle material fill the melting zone beneath an island.

Description: Osmium concentrations and isotopic signatures were measured in 28 primarily Holocene basalts (22 of which have been analyzed for Sr–Nd–Pb isotope composition), two carbonatites and two mantle xenoliths from the Canary Islands, Selvagen Grande and Madeira in the eastern North Atlantic. 187Os/188Os ratios in the basalts range from 0.129 to 0.183. The Os isotope systematics indicate that the basalts fall into three petrogenetic groups: (1) a ‘radiogenic’ group with high 187Os/188Os from 0.152 to 0.183; (2) an ‘unradiogenic’ group with low 187Os/188Os from 0.129 to 0.138; (3) an ‘intermediate’ group with 187Os/188Os between 0.139 and 0.151. The Os isotope systematics of the radiogenic group samples are consistent with minor contamination of the basalts by marine sediment. All samples in the unradiogenic group contain mantle xenoliths, and the unradiogenic Os can be explained by bulk assimilation of ≤ 5% mantle peridotite in the form of disaggregated xenoliths. The radiogenic and unradiogenic groups are also characterized by higher 87Sr/86Sr and 208Pb/204Pb but lower 143Nd/144Nd than samples with similar 206Pb/204Pb from the intermediate group, which is interpreted to reflect interaction of plume magmas with the lithospheric mantle. The intermediate group samples are believed to represent the isotopic signature of the mantle plume. The Os isotopic composition of the Canary plume is among the most radiogenic found in ocean island basalts, comparable with the endmember HIMU islands Mangaia and Tubuaii, but at significantly lower 206Pb/204Pb. The radiogenic Os and moderate 206Pb/204Pb signature of the Canary plume is consistent with a plume which contains 25–35% of relatively young (∼1.2 Ga) recycled oceanic crust. Variable degree of mixing of the Canary Island plume source with shallow depleted asthenosphere containing a component of Paleozoic oceanic crust produces the limited range in Os isotopic signatures observed in the Madeira and Canary Island basalts despite a large range in 206Pb/204Pb isotopic composition.

Description: This study presents laser step-heating 40Ar/39Ar age determinations of basaltic lava samples from Tamu Massif, the oldest and largest edifice of the submarine Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific and Earth’s proposed largest volcano. The rocks were recovered during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 324, which cored 160 m into the igneous basement near the summit of Tamu Massif. The analyzed lavas cover all three major stratigraphic groups penetrated at this site and confirm a Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous age for the onset of Shatsky Rise volcanism. Lavas analyzed from the lower and middle section of the hole yield plateau ages between 144.4 ± 1.0 and 143.1 ± 3.3 Ma with overlapping analytical errors (2σ), whereas a sample from the uppermost lava group produced a significantly younger age of 133.9 ± 2.3 Ma suggesting a late or rejuvenated phase of volcanism. The new geochronological data infer minimum (average) melt production rates of 0.63–0.84 km3/a over a time interval of 3–4 million years consistent with the presence of a mantle plume.

Description: The igneous forearc basement along the Pacific coast of northern Central America (between southern Mexico and Costa Rica) comprises a highly tectonized accretionary assemblage of igneous and ultramafic rocks. Volcanic and gabbroic rocks with primitive arc geochemical signatures formed between ∼100 and ≥180 Ma and are interpreted to have originated by arc magmatism resulting from subduction of the Pacific–Farallon plate. Geochemically enriched ocean island basalt (OIB)-like units are interpreted as accreted seamounts and islands of a hotspot track, which was active between ≥220 and 100 Ma and originated from a hotspot located in the central Pacific. Based on their combined Pb, Nd and Hf isotopic compositions an affiliation of these rocks with the Caribbean Large Igneous Province or the present-day Galápagos hotspot appears unlikely. Rocks of similar age and geochemistry are exposed on the Santa Elena Peninsula in Costa Rica, suggesting that a similar forearc basement is accreted to the continental Chortis Block from southern Mexico to Costa Rica.

Description: Subduction zones of continental, transitional, and oceanic settings, relative to the nature of the overriding plate, are compared in terms of trace element compositions of mafic to intermediate arc rocks, in order to evaluate the relationship between subduction parameters and the presence of subduction fluids. The continental Chilean Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) and the transitional to oceanic Central American Volcanic Arc (CAVA) show increasing degrees of melting with increasing involvement of slab fluids, as is typical for hydrous flux melting beneath arc volcanoes. At the SVZ, the central segment with the thinnest continental crust/lithosphere erupted the highest-degree melts from the most depleted sources, similar to the oceanic-like Nicaraguan segment of the CAVA. The northern part of the SVZ, located on the thickest continental crust/lithosphere, exhibits features more similar to Costa Rica situated on the Caribbean Large Igneous Province, with lower degrees of melting from more enriched source materials. The composition of the slab fluids is characteristic for each arc system, with a particularly pronounced enrichment in Pb at the SVZ and in Ba at the CAVA. A direct compositional relationship between the arc rocks and the corresponding marine sediments that are subducted at the trenches clearly shows that the compositional signature of the lavas erupted in the different arcs carries an inherited signal from the subducted sediments.