Lead isotope study of orogenic lherzolite massifs

Abstract

Orogenic lherzolites allow for almost “in-situ” observation of mantle isotopic heterogeneities on a restricted geographical scale, in contrast to basalts for which melting processes have averaged original mantle compositions over uncertain scales. Pb isotopes from whole rocks and clinopyroxenes from the massifs of Lherz (Pyrenees), Lanzo (Alps), Beni Bousera (Morocco) and Zabargad (Red Sea) show internal heterogeneities that encompass the entire range of variation observed in oceanic basalts. Some depleted lherzolites have a very unradiogenic composition similar to that of the most depleted ridge tholeiites. Pyroxenites from mafic layers generally have more radiogenic compositions, some of them comparable to the most radiogenic oceanic island results. The isotopic differences between lherzolites and pyroxenites vanish where layers are very closely spaced ( < 2 cm). In this case, the lherzolites may have equilibrated with the more Pb-rich pyroxenites through solid-state diffusion under mantle conditions. These results directly illustrate the smallest scales at which Pb isotopic heterogeneity may survive within the mantle. The genesis of these heterogeneities are discussed within the framework of the “marble cake” mantle model [1], where lherzolites are residues left over after oceanic crust extraction, whereas pyroxenites represent either basaltic or cumulate portions of the oceanic crust, reinjected by subduction and stretched by solid-state mixing during mantle convection. The Pb isotope data suggest that each massif was involved in several cycles of convective overturn, segregation and reinjection of the oceanic crust, during periods well over 1 Ga. If the upper mantle is made of interlayered radiogenic and unradiogenic layers, basalt heterogeneities may result from preferential melt-extraction from different layers depending on the degree of melting, as well as from large-scale, plume-related mantle heterogeneities. Orogenic lherzolites therefore allow direct observation of disseminated small-scale heterogeneities previously inferred from observations of oceanic basalts from seamounts and ridges.