Melting depths and mantle heterogeneity beneath Hawaii and the East Pacific Rise: Constraints from Na/Ti and rare earth element ratios

Abstract

Mantle melting calculations are presented that place constraints on the mineralogy of the basalt source region and partial melting depths for oceanic basalts. Melting depths are obtained from pressure‐sensitive mineral‐melt partition coefficients for Na, Ti, Hf, and the rare earth elements (REE). Melting depths are estimated by comparing model aggregate melt compositions to natural basalts from Hawaii and the East Pacific Rise (EPR). Variations in melting depths in a peridotite mantle are sufficient to yield observed differences in Na/Ti, Lu/Hf, and Sm/Yb between Hawaii and the EPR. Initial melting depths of 95–120 km are calculated for EPR basalts, while melting depths of 200–400 km are calculated for Hawaii, indicating a mantle that is 300°C hotter at Hawaii. Some isotope ratios at Hawaii are correlated with Na/Ti, indicating vertical stratification to isotopic heterogeneity in the mantle; similar comparisons involving EPR lavas support a layered mantle model. Abundances of Na, Ti, and REE indicate that garnet pyroxenite and eclogite are unlikely source components at Hawaii and may be unnecessary at the EPR. The result that some geochemical features of oceanic lavas appear to require only minor variations in mantle mineral proportions (2% or less) may have important implications regarding the efficiency of mantle mixing. Heterogeneity required by isotopic studies might be accompanied by only subtle differences in bulk composition, and material that is recycled at subduction zones might not persist as mineralogically distinct mantle components.