Redox state of the Archean mantle: Evidence from V partitioning in 3.5–2.4 Ga komatiites

Abstract

Oxygen fugacity of the mantle is a crucial thermodynamic parameter that controls such fundamental processes as planetary differentiation, mantle melting, and possible core-mantle exchange. Constraining the evolution of the redox state of the mantle is of paramount importance for understanding the chemical evolution of major terrestrial reservoirs, including the core, mantle, and atmosphere. In order to evaluate the secular evolution of the redox state of the mantle, oxygen fugacities of six komatiite systems, ranging in age from 3.48 to 2.41 Ga, were determined using high-precision partitioning data of the redox-sensitive element vanadium between liquidus olivine, chromite and komatiitic melt. The calculated oxygen fugacities range from −0.11 ± 0.30 ΔFMQ log units in the 3.48 Ga Komati system to +0.43 ± 0.26 ΔFMQ log units in the 2.41 Ga Vetreny system. Although there is a slight hint in the data for an increase in the oxygen fugacity of the mantle between 3.48 and 2.41 Ga, these values generally overlap within their respective uncertainties; they are also largely within the range of oxygen fugacity estimates for modern MORB lavas of +0.60 ± 0.30 ΔFMQ log units that we obtained using the same technique. Our results are consistent with the previous findings that argued for little change in the mantle oxygen fugacity since the early Archean and indicate that the mantle had reached its nearly-present day redox state by at least 3.48 Ga.