Isotopic study of basaltic dikes in the Nain Plutonic Suite: evidence for enriched mantle sources

Abstract

Basaltic dikes cutting the Nain Plutonic Suite (NPS) of Labrador include two chemically distinct groups. One is a high-Fe tholeiitic to transitional alkalic composition similar to some of the magmas involved in the formation of the NPS. The other, distinguished by high phosphorus and incompatible element contents, is similar in major element composition to intraplate oceanic alkalic basalts. A Rb–Sr mineral isochron for one high-P2O5 sample defines an age of 1276 ± 23 Ma indicating that it is similar in age to, or only slightly younger than, the circa 1305 Ma anorthosites.Compositional and isotopic characteristics of the high- and low-P2O5 dikes show that the gross features of their initial isotopic characteristics (i.e., low 87Sr/86Sr, negative εNd, nonradiogenic Pb) probably derive from a distinct lithospheric mantle source with similar characteristics. To have developed these isotopic characteristics by the time of dike emplacement, their mantle source must have formed and separated from oceanic-type upper mantle well prior to Nain anorthosite genesis, possibly between 2.0 and 2.6 Ga.