Genesis of ultra-high pressure garnet pyroxenites in orogenic peridotites and its bearing on the compositional heterogeneity of the Earth’s mantle

Abstract

We present an integrated geochemical study of ultra-high pressure (UHP) garnet pyroxenites from the Ronda and Beni Bousera peridotite massifs (Betic-Rif Belt, westernmost Mediterranean). Based on their Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic systematics, we classify UHP garnet pyroxenites into three groups: Group A pyroxenites (Al2O3: 15–17.5 wt.%) have low initial 87Sr/86Sr, relatively high εNd, εHf and 206Pb/204Pb ratios, and variable 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb. Group B pyroxenites (Al2O3 < 14 wt.%) are characterized by high initial 87Sr/86Sr and relatively low εNd, εHf and 206Pb/204Pb ratios. Group C pyroxenites (Al2O3 ∼ 15 wt.%) have depleted radiogenic signatures with relatively low initial 87Sr/86Sr and 206Pb/204Pb, high εNd and εHf, and their 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb ratios are similar to those of Group B pyroxenites.The major and trace element and isotopic compositions of UHP garnet pyroxenites support their derivation from ancient (1.5–3.5 Ga) oceanic crust recycled into the mantle and intimately stirred with peridotites by convection. However, the genesis of these pyroxenites requires also the involvement of recycled continental lower crust with an isotopic composition akin to the lower crustal section of the lithosphere where these UHP garnet pyroxenites now reside in. These oceanic and continental crustal components were stirred in different proportions in the convective mantle, originating pyroxenites with a more marked geochemical imprint of either oceanic (Group A) or continental lower crust (Group B), or hybrid compositions (Group C). The pyroxenite protoliths likely underwent several melting events, one of them related to the formation of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle and continental crust, generating restitic UHP garnet pyroxenites now preserved in the Ronda and Beni Bousera orogenic peridotites. The extent of melting was mostly controlled by the bulk Mg-number (Mg#) of the pyroxenite protoliths, where protoliths with low Mg# experienced higher degrees of partial melting than sources with higher Mg#. Positive Eu and Sr anomalies in bulk rocks, indicative of their origin from cumulitic crustal gabbros, are preserved mostly in high Mg# pyroxenites due to their higher melting temperatures and consequent lower partial melting degrees.The results of this study show that the genesis of UHP garnet pyroxenites in orogenic peridotites requires a new recipe for the marble cake mantle hypothesis, combining significant recycling and stirring of both oceanic and continental lower crust in the Earth’s mantle. Furthermore, this study establishes a firm connection between the isotopic signatures of UHP pyroxenite heterogeneities in the mantle and the continental lower crust.