Multistage melt/fluid-peridotite interactions in the refertilized lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton: constraints from the Li–Sr–Nd isotopic disequilibrium between minerals of peridotite xenoliths

Abstract

Elemental and Li-Sr-Nd isotopic data of minerals in spinel peridotites hosted by Cenozoic basalts allow us to refine the existing models for Li isotopic frac- tionation in mantle peridotites and constrain the melt/fluid- peridotite interaction in the lithospheric mantle beneath the North China Craton. Highly elevated Li concentrations in cpx (up to 24 ppm) relative to coexisting opx and olivine (\4 ppm) indicate that the peridotites experienced metasomatism by mafic silicate melts and/or fluids. The mineral d 7 Li vary greatly, with olivine (?0.7 to ?5.4%) being isotopically heavier than coexisting opx (-4.4 to -25.9%) and cpx (-3.3 to -21.4%) in most samples. The d 7 Li in pyroxenes are considerably lower than the normal mantle values and show negative correlation with their Li abundances, likely due to recent Li ingress attended by diffusive fractionation of Li isotopes. Two exceptional samples have olivine d 7 Li of -3.0 and -7.9%, indicating the existence of low d 7 Li domains in the mantle, which could be transient and gener- ated by meter-scale diffusion of Li during melt/fluid-peri- dotite interaction. The 143 Nd/ 144 Nd (0.5123-0.5139) and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr (0.7018-0.7062) in the pyroxenes also show a large variation, in which the cpx are apparently lower in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and slightly higher in 143 Nd/ 144 Nd than coexisting opx, implying an intermineral Sr-Nd isotopic disequilib- rium. This is observed more apparently in peridotites having low 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and high 143 Nd/ 144 Nd ratios than in those with high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and low 143 Nd/ 144 Nd, suggesting that a rela- tively recent interaction existed between an ancient me- tasomatized lithospheric mantle and asthenospheric melt, which transformed the refractory peridotites with highly radiogenic Sr and unradiogenic Nd isotopic compositions to the fertile lherzolites with unradiogenic Sr and radiogenic Nd isotopic compositions. Therefore, we argue that the litho- spheric mantle represented by the peridotites has been het- erogeneously refertilized by multistage melt/fluid-peridotite interactions.