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Compositional Model for the Mantle beneath the Pacific Plate Rhea Workman Outline: 1. Concepts of trace element and isotope geochemistry for the Earth’s mantle 2. Derivation of upper mantle’s composition 3. Some updates 4. Composition of uppermost 100km
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Mantle Melting and Production of Crust Removes U and Th from the Mantle Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Center : ~100 km deep
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Underwater Basaltic Eruption, Hawaii “Pele Meets the sea” by Pyle et al. (1990), Lava video productions
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Depleted Mantle upwelling beneath ridges U, Th and K also removed by continental crust formation
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Olivine (Mg,Fe) 2 SiO 4 Orthopyroxene (Mg,Fe)SiO 3 Melt Partial Melting Leads to Trace Element Partitioning Wark et al. (2003) U, Th and K all prefer the melt phase With Melt/Residue ~ 1000
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Bulk Silicate Earth (Mantle before any crust was formed) 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 Increasing Compatibility in Solid Residue Partial Melting Leads to Trace Element Partitioning Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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100 10 1 0.1 0.01 Mantle melt (Ocean Crust) Partial Melting Leads to Trace Element Partitioning Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth Increasing Compatibility in Solid Residue
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100 10 1 0.1 0.01 Mantle melt (Ocean Crust) Mantle residue after melt removal Partial Melting Leads to Trace Element Partitioning Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth Increasing Compatibility in Solid Residue
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If trace element fractionation happened a long time ago… 87 Rb 87 Sr 86 Sr is not radiogenic
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Isotopic Compositions of Mid-Ocean-Ridge Basalts Ancient depletion of upper mantle
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Elemental Abundances in Modern Ocean Crust 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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Elemental Abundances in Modern Ocean Crust 100 10 1 0.1 0.01 Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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**Upper mantle has ~3% mafic melt removal - a big effect for incompatible trace elements (like Th, U and K). **Seismic properties, based on major element chemistry, don’t change much from small degrees of melt extraction. Calculated by L. Stixrude
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Constraints on the Trace Element Composition of DMM 1. Abyssal Peridotites = Define trends of melt depletion for the upper mantle (same assumptions as McDonough and Sun (1995) 2. Isotopic composition of Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts = Parent/daughter ratios in DMM (Rb/Sr, Sm/Nd, U/Pb, Th/Pb, Lu/Hf) Requires 1 more assumption than BSE calculation 3. Canonical Ratios = Some trace element ratios are nearly constant in MORBs and assumed to be the same in the MORB source (Ce/Pb, Nb/Ta, Nb/U, Ba/Rb) Workman and Hart (2005)
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From Henry Dick 1. Abyssal Peridotites - samples of mantle with melt removed
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Data from: Dick (1984), Dick (1989), Johnson et al. (1990), Johnson & Dick (1992), Dick & Natland (1996), Salters & Dick (2002), Hellebrand et al. (2002), Tartorotti et al. (2002) 1. Abyssal Peridotites - samples of mantle with melt removed Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE) McDonough & Sun (1995) Increasing Amount of Melt Removal 1. Abyssal Peridotites - samples of mantle with melt removed ** Slope is a function of relative partitioning of the two elements. ** Where is modern upper mantle on this trend? ** Use Sm-Nd isotope system to plot position of upper mantle…BUT need to know information about the AGE of mantle depletion!
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Depleted Mantle upwelling beneath ridges The only solid material we know has definitely been extracted from the mantle and STAYED extracted from the mantle is the continental crust.
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Continental Growth Models ---> identify age (i.e. history) of mantle depletion ---> identify age (i.e. history) of mantle depletion **A consensus is merging toward the middle
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Melt is continually removed from the upper mantle through time, starting at 3 Ga Sm/Nd = 0.411 (Calculated) Present day Nd Isotopic value (Observed) 2. Isotopic composition of Oceanic Crust
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Sm/Nd = 0.411 BSE Defining a unique position on the mantle depletion trends
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Some trace elements don’t fractionate from each other! So ratio in melt equals ratio in residue 3. “Canonical” ratios Spreading Center Lavas PETDB Database
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Composing Trace Element Composition of Upper Mantle Abyssal Peridotite Constraints Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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Parent/Daughter Constraints Composing Trace Element Composition of Upper Mantle Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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Cannonical Ratios Constraints Composing Trace Element Composition of Upper Mantle Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth
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Connecting the Dots… Composing Trace Element Composition of Upper Mantle Element Concentrations Normalized to Bulk Silicate Earth -- Internally consistent model (error for many elements is 1-5%) -- Is it accurate?
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So how much U, Th and K is that? U = 3.2 ± 0.5 ppb(16% of the BSE value) Th = 7.9 ± 1.0 ppb (10% of the BSE value) K = 50 ppm (20% of the BSE value) Workman and Hart likely gives minimum values.... New information is coming out to suggest this.
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146 Sm --> 142 Nd t 1/2 = 103 My New evidence from a short lived isotope informs us about the Early Earth (>4 billion years ago)… Shows that a crust was formed early in earth history, creating a very old depleted mantle. Boyet and Carlson (2006)
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Using a similar approach as I showed, they get: U = 5.4 ppb Th = 16 ppb K = 68.4 ppm (About 1.4 - 2x higher than our previous estimate) These numbers are only valid for the modern UNMELTED upper mantle What about the upper ~100km that has melt removed (and hence much to all of the U and Th removed)??
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Estimating the Compositional Structure of Oceanic Lithosphere Use the pHMELTS model: most recent iteration of a thermodynamic model for phase equilibria (Ghiorso and Sack, 1995; Asimow and Ghiorso, 1998; Ghiorso et al., 2002, Asimow and Langmuir, 2003; Asimow et al., 2004) Use the pHMELTS model: most recent iteration of a thermodynamic model for phase equilibria (Ghiorso and Sack, 1995; Asimow and Ghiorso, 1998; Ghiorso et al., 2002, Asimow and Langmuir, 2003; Asimow et al., 2004) Assume DMM composition (average of W&H, 2005 and B&C, 2006) Assume DMM composition (average of W&H, 2005 and B&C, 2006) Water content is set 120 ppm Water content is set 120 ppm 1. Range of water = 70-200 ppm (Michael, 1988; Michael et al., 1995; Danyushevsky et al., 2000; Saal et al., 2002; Workman and Hart, 2005) 2. Water content that generates a MORB with 0.2 wt% H 2 O at 8 wt% MgO Find the potential temperature needed to make oceanic crust Find the potential temperature needed to make oceanic crust
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What is the Potential Temperature of the Mantle? pHMELTS model runs Roughly 1km for every 25 degrees + Error is ±50°
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Effect of water on the mantle’s melting temperature A B Hirth and Kohlstedt (1996) Recent iteration by Asimow and Langmuir (2003)
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Dry solidus 120 ppm H2O crust Melt Extraction from Upper Mantle U and Th (ppb), K (ppm) F = 0.5% crust
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U and Th (ppb) K (ppm) crust ? How deep? At least ~500 km. Maybe higher U, Th, K at depth…PM values? Sediments Altered Ocean Crust Unaltered Ocean Crust, 56 ppb Depth (km)
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CONCLUSIONS
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Peridotites = Residues of DMM Melting Fractional Melting: Reconstituted peridotites: (Sobolev & Shimizu, 1993; Johnson et al., 1990; Johnson and Dick, 1992) (No plag peridotites)
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Peridotites = Residues of DMM Melting Linearized relationship between two elements, A & B, in a residue of fractional melting: Where slope, R Primitive Upper Mantle (PUM) McDonough & Sun (1995) Depletion By Fractional Melting
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87 Rb 87Sr t 1/2 = 49 Byr
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Mineralogy and Buoyancy of the Lithosphere 0 Ma 50 Ma Solidus
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