Global mantle perturbations following the onset of modern plate tectonics.

Abstract

Plate tectonics drives the compositional diversity of Earth's convecting mantle through subduction of lithosphere. In this context, the role of evolving global geodynamics and plate (re)organization on the spatial and temporal distribution of compositional heterogeneities in the convecting mantle is poorly understood. Here, using the geochemical compositions of intracontinental basalts formed over the past billion years, we show that intracontinental basalts with subchondritic initial neodymium-144/neodymium-143 values become common only after 300 million years, broadly coeval with the global appearance of kimberlites with geochemically enriched isotopic signatures. These step changes in the sources of intraplate magmatism stem from a rapid increase in the supply of deeply subducted lithosphere during the protracted formation of Pangea following the widespread onset of "modern" (cold and deep) subduction in the late Neoproterozoic. We argue that the delay (~300 million years) in the appearance of enriched intraplate magmas reflects the time required for the sinking and (re)incorporation of slabs into the sources of mantle-derived magmas.