CORRELATED OS-PB-ND-SR ISOTOPES IN THE AUSTRAL-COOK CHAIN BASALTS: THE NATURE OF MANTLE COMPONENTS IN PLUME SOURCES

Abstract

Osmium (Os), strontium (Sr), neodymium (Nd) and lead (Pb) isotopes have been measured on a suite of aphyric basalts from 12 islands of the Austral-Cook island archipelago, an area which exhibits a range in Pb isotope compositions that encompasses almost the entire range displayed by ocean island basalts (OIB). Although the samples have Os concentrations (1.69-34.80 ppt) at the lower end of the range measured for OIB, they display a range of initial 187Os/188Os ratios (between 0.1279 and 0.1594) similar to that defined by olivine-phyric, Os-rich OIB. Positive Os-Nd, Os-Pb and negative Os-Sr isotope correlations are documented, indicating that the isotopic arrays represent various proportions of mixing between a HIMU-type end-member represented by Mangaia and Tubuai islands and characterized by radiogenic Os and Pb isotopic compositions, and an end-member represented by Rarotonga island which is characterized by unradiogenic Os and intermediate Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic compositions. The HIMU signature of the mantle component involved in Tubuai-Mangaia mantle sources requires long-term enrichments of U and Th relative to Pb and Re relative to Os, without associated increase in Rb/Sr, that are consistent with recycled oceanic crust. The end-member represented by Rarotonga basalts shows Os, Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic signatures similar to those presumed for the 'bulk silicate earth' (BSE), which cannot be obtained by mixing the four mantle components (DMM, HIMU and EM1 and 2) generally used to circumscribe the Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic data of OIB. The primitive-like isotopic characters of this end-member might be ascribed to the presence of undepleted material from a lower segment of the mantle in the source of the Austral-Cook island basalts (and more specifically Rarotonga basalts); however, such a hypothesis is challenged by both the absence of a primordial 3He signature and the non-primitive Ce/Pb and Nb/U values for the Austral-Cook island basalts. Alternatively, assuming that the primitive-like isotopic composition of the Rarotonga samples reflects mixing proportions between the HIMU component and a mantle component characterized by unradiogenic Os, Nd and Pb and radiogenic Sr isotopic composition relative to BSE, the involvement of recycled, old subcontinental lithosphere in the genesis of this component should then be considered.