Platinum group element geochemistry of komatiites from the Alexo and Pyke Hill areas, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Thirty-three whole-rock drill core samples and thirteen olivine, chromite, and sulfide separates from three differentiated komatiite lava flows at Alexo and Pyke Hill, Canada, were analyzed for PGEs using the Carius tube digestion ID-ICP-MS technique. The emplaced lavas are Al-undepleted komatiites with ∼27% MgO derived by ∼50% partial melting of LILE-depleted Archean mantle. Major and minor element variations during and after emplacement were controlled by 30 to 50% fractionation of olivine Fo93–94. The emplaced lavas are characterized by (Pd/Ir)N = 4.0 to 4.6, (Os/Ir)N = 1.07, and Os abundances of ∼2.3 ppb. Variations in PGE abundances within individual flows indicate that Os and Ir were compatible (bulk DOs,Ir = 2.4–7.1) and that Pt and Pd were incompatible (bulk DPt,Pd < 0.2) during lava differentiation, whereas bulk DRu was close to unity. Analyses of cumulus olivine separates indicate that PGEs were incompatible in olivine (DPGEsOl-Liq = 0.04–0.7). The bulk fractionation trends cannot be accounted for by fractionation of olivine alone, and require an unidentified Os-Ir-rich phase. The composition of the mantle source (Os = 3.9 ppb, Ir = 3.6 ppb, Ru = 5.4 ppb, Pt and Pd = 5.7 ppb) was constrained empirically for Ru, Pt, and Pd; the Os/Ir ratio was taken to be identical to that in the emplaced melt, and the Ru/Ir ratio was taken to be chondritic, so that the absolute IPGE abundances of the source were determined by Ru. This is the first estimate of the PGE composition of a mantle source derived from analyses of erupted lavas. The suprachondritic Pd/Ir and Os/Ir of the inferred Abitibi komatiite mantle source are similar to those in off-craton spinel lherzolites, orogenic massif lherzolites, and enstatite chondrites, and are considered to be an intrinsic mantle feature. Bulk partition coefficients for use in komatiite melting models derived from the source and emplaced melt compositions are: DOs,Ir = 2.3, DRu = 1.0, DPt,Pd = 0.07. Ruthenium abundances are good indicators of absolute IPGE abundances in the mantle sources of komatiite melts with 26 to 29% MgO, as Ru fractionates very little during both high degrees of partial melting and lava differentiation.