Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopic systematics of the East Antarctic Manning Massif alkaline trachybasalts and the development of the mantle beneath the Lambert-Amery rift

Abstract

Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic investigations have been carried out on samples forming a sequence from the bottom to the top of a suite of K-rich olivine trachybasalts from the Manning Massif in the northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica. Several separate flows, each 3.5-6.5 m thick, occur as individual small outcrops and are related to the Lambert-Amery rift. Nd-Sr isotopic features of the volcanics are similar to those for lherzolite xenoliths from the Mesozoic alkaline ultramafic rocks of the adjacent Jetty Peninsula area, but the trace element abundances and patterns are consistent with the occurrence of minor phases such as apatite, amphibole, ilmenite and perovskite in the source region. According to Nd-Sr isotopic characteristics (143Nd/144Nd = 0.512026-0.512269;87Sr/86Sr = 0.707765-0.708046), the trachybasalts were generated from an enriched mantle source. These features are suggested here to result from isotopic mixing between peridotite wall-rocks similar to the Jetty Peninsula xenolith samples and melts derived from ultramafic veins in the lithosphere. A synthesis from isochron and model ages on volcanics and xenoliths indicates formation of the lithosphere at about 1.2 Ga, followed by two episodes of subsequent enrichment at 0.91.0 Ga and ca. 0.6 Ga. The143Nd/144Nd values for the volcanics show a wide range, but are more enriched for the bottom part of the suite, becoming more depleted towards the top. This may be explained by a steadily decreasing vein/wall-rock ratio from 35% to 10% due to progressive heating of the source region. This variation in ENd is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in87Sr/86Sr, which constrains both vein and wall-rock characteristics quite closely: the wall-rock was an enriched peridotite, whereas the vein assemblage comprised dominantly clinopyroxene and amphibole with a lesser, but essential, amount of phlogopite. REE-rich accessory phases such as apatite and perovskite were present in the vein, but were rare, so that the vein as a whole had high Sr/Nd. Rb-Sr age determination on Manning Massif bulk rocks gives an apparent isochron age of 40±1.2 Ma (ISr = 0.70762), although the age is probably falsified by the mixing processes during melting.