Highly siderophile element composition of the Earth’s primitive upper mantle: Constraints from new data on peridotite massifs and xenoliths

Abstract

Osmium, Ru, Ir, Pt, Pd and Re abundances and 187Os/ 188Os data on peridotites were determined using improved analytical techniques in order to precisely constrain the highly siderophile element (HSE) composition of fertile lherzolites and to provide an updated estimate of HSE composition of the primitive upper mantle (PUM). The new data are used to better constrain the origin of the HSE excess in Earth’s mantle. Samples include lherzolite and harzburgite xenoliths from Archean and post-Archean continental lithosphere, peridotites from ultramafic massifs, ophiolites and other samples of oceanic mantle such as abyssal peridotites. Osmium, Ru and Ir abundances in the peridotite data set do not correlate with moderately incompatible melt extraction indicators such as Al 2O 3. Os/Ir is chondritic in most samples, while Ru/Ir, with few exceptions, is ca. 30% higher than in chondrites. Both ratios are constant over a wide range of Al 2O 3 contents, but show stronger scatter in depleted harzburgites. Platinum, Pd and Re abundances, their ratios with Ir, Os and Ru, and the 187Os/ 188Os ratio (a proxy for Re/Os) show positive correlations with Al 2O 3, indicating incompatible behavior of Pt, Pd and Re during mantle melting. The empirical sequence of peridotite-melt partition coefficients of Re, Pd and Pt as derived from peridotites ( D Re s / l < D Pd s / l < D Pt s / l < 1 ) is consistent with previous data on natural samples. Some harzburgites and depleted lherzolites have been affected by secondary igneous processes such as silicate melt percolation, as indicated by U-shaped patterns of incompatible HSE, high 187Os/ 188Os, and scatter off the correlations defined by incompatible HSE and Al 2O 3. The bulk rock HSE content, chondritic Os/Ir, and chondritic to subchondritic Pt/Ir, Re/Os, Pt/Re and Re/Pd of many lherzolites of the present study are consistent with depletion by melting, and possibly solid state mixing processes in the convecting mantle, involving recycled oceanic lithosphere. Based on fertile lherzolite compositions, we infer that PUM is characterized by a mean Ir abundance of 3.5 ± 0.4 ng/g (or 0.0080 ± 0.0009*CI chondrites), chondritic ratios involving Os, Ir, Pt and Re (Os/Ir PUM of 1.12 ± 0.09, Pt/Ir PUM = 2.21 ± 0.21, Re/Os PUM = 0.090 ± 0.002) and suprachondritic ratios involving Ru and Pd (Ru/Ir PUM = 2.03 ± 0.12, Pd/Ir PUM = 2.06 ± 0.31, uncertainties 1 σ). The combination of chondritic and modestly suprachondritic HSE ratios of PUM cannot be explained by any single planetary fractionation process. Comparison with HSE patterns of chondrites shows that no known chondrite group perfectly matches the PUM composition. Similar HSE patterns, however, were found in Apollo 17 impact melt rocks from the Serenitatis impact basin [Norman M.D., Bennett V.C., Ryder G., 2002. Targeting the impactors: siderophile element signatures of lunar impact melts from Serenitatis. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett, 217–228.], which represent mixtures of chondritic material, and a component that may be either of meteoritic or indigenous origin. The similarities between the HSE composition of PUM and the bulk composition of lunar breccias establish a connection between the late accretion history of the lunar surface and the HSE composition of the Earth’s mantle. Although late accretion following core formation is still the most viable explanation for the HSE abundances in the Earth’s mantle, the “late veneer” hypothesis may require some modification in light of the unique PUM composition.