Loss of isotopic (Nd, O) and chemical (REE) memory during metamorphism of komatiites: new evidence from eastern Finland

Abstract

Komatiites are often considered to depict the chemical and isotopic composition of their source rocks in the Archean mantle. However, a weakness of these rocks in tracking the initial compositional heterogeneity of the Earth's mantle is the ubiquitous presence of metamorphic recrystallization, which casts some doubt about the preservation of primary chemical and isotopic characteristics. Two spinifex-textured komatiite flows from the 2.75 Ga old Kuhmo greenstone belt (Siivikkovaara area) of eastern Finland document this weakness. Both flows have experienced low to medium grade metamorphism (T=450±50°C), and now consist entirely of secondary metamorphic assemblages of amphibole±chlorite±plagioclase, with minor proportions of magnetite and ilmenite. MgO contents range from 25 to 8%, which suggests that low pressure differentiation was likely controlled by olivine and clinopyroxene fractional crystallization. However, neither major nor trace elements fall on olivine and/or clinopyroxene control lines. This is particularly well illustrated by the REE as there is an overall 60% variation of (Ce/Sm)N ratios (0.38 to 0.91), which far exceeds that expected from olivine and clinopyroxene fractionation alone. In fact, careful evaluation of petrographic (including mineral composition data) and chemical characteristics shows that most elements of geological interest (including the reputedly immobile REE) were mobile on a whole-rock scale during metamorphic recrystallization of these two flows. This view is fully supported by Sm-Nd isotopic data since both whole-rock and mineral (amphibole and plagioclase) samples lie on a single isochron relationship at T≈ 1800 Ma, an age which corresponds to the time of regional metamorphism. Thus, the meta-komatiite flows from Siivikkovaara document a case of komatiite flow units in which metamorphism has induced whole-rock scale resetting of primary REE patterns and Sm-Nd isotope systematics. As regards the nature of the mechanism responsible for this resetting, it is suggested here that the secondary mineralogy played an important role, as there are correlations between whole-rock 147Sm/144Nd ratios, major and trace element chemistry, oxygen isotopic ratios and modal proportions of secondary minerals. Consideration of oxygen isotopic data, as well as previous results from a komatiite flow from the nearby Tipasjarvi belt, further enable us to propose that the REE carrier was likely a CO2-rich fluid. The process of secondary REE redistribution prevents estimation of the true initial Nd isotopic compositions of the two flows. Taken as a whole, the results presented in this paper show that great care should be be exercised in the use of meta-komatiites as probes of Archean mantle composition.