Composition of plume‐influenced mid‐ocean ridge lavas and glasses from the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, East Pacific Rise, Galápagos Spreading Center, and Gulf of Aden

Abstract

The global mid‐ocean ridge system is peppered with localities where mantle plumes impinge on oceanic spreading centers. Here, we present new, high resolution and high precision data for 40 trace elements in 573 samples of variably plume‐influenced mid‐ocean ridge basalts from the Mid‐Atlantic ridge, the Easter Microplate and Salas y Gomez seamounts, the Galápagos spreading center, and the Gulf of Aden, in addition to previously unpublished major element and isotopic data for these regions. Included in the data set are the unconventional trace elements Mo, Cd, Sn, Sb, W, and Tl, which are not commonly reported by most geochemical studies. We show variations in the ratios Mo/Ce, Cd/Dy, Sn/Sm, Sb/Ce, W/U, and Rb/Tl, which are expected not to fractionate significantly during melting or crystallization, as a function of proximity to plume‐related features on these ridges. The Cd/Dy and Sn/Sm ratios show little variation with plume proximity, although higher Cd/Dy may signal increases in the role of garnet in the mantle source beneath some plumes. Globally, the Rb/Tl ratio closely approximates the La/SmNratio, and thus provides a sensitive tracer of enriched mantle domains. The W/U ratio is not elevated at plume centers, but we find significant enrichments in W/U, and to a lesser extent the Mo/Ce and Sb/Ce ratios, at mid‐ocean ridges proximal to plumes. Such enrichments may provide evidence of far‐field entrainment of lower mantle material that has interacted with the core by deeply‐rooted, upwelling mantle plumes.