Hf-O isotope systematics of zircons from the Taitao granitoids: Implications for slab-melting material

Abstract

Slab-melting is considered to have played an important role in the formation of continental crust. The combination of oxygen (O) and hafnium (Hf) isotope signatures can provide key information relating to the melting components during slab-melting. To reveal the melting components, we used SIMS and LA-ICP-MS to determine O isotope ratios at 220 spots and Hf isotope ratios at 61 spots in zircons from five plutons in the Taitao Peninsula, where slab-melting occurred at ca. 4–5 Ma. In addition, we measured whole-rock HfO isotope ratios in 11 rocks that were intruded by the granitoids. The zircon δ18O values of the Seno Hoppner pluton (5.37 ± 0.44‰) are identical to those of mantle-equilibrated zircons, whereas those of the other four plutons are relatively high (6.09–6.53‰). The ɛHf(t) values of zircons in the granitoids are negatively correlated with δ18O, and they fell along the mixing line between a juvenile component and sedimentary rocks. Therefore, the HfO profiles can be attributed to mixing of juvenile granitoid magma and the sedimentary rocks, the amount of which was likely minimal in the Seno Hoppner pluton. As such, the δ18O values of the Seno Hoppner pluton could best reflect the juvenile component. In view of the δ18O variation in whole-rock samples of the Taitao ophiolite, the melting of hydrothermally altered basalt and dolerite is considered responsible for the juvenile magma generation. This further implies that juvenile granitoid magmas can be generated by the melting of the upper half of subducted oceanic crusts.