SrNdPb isotopic and trace element evidence for crustal contamination of plume-derived flood basalts: Oligocene flood volcanism in western Yemen

Abstract

Oligocene flood basalts from western Yemen have a relatively limited range in initial isotopic composition compared with other continental flood basalts: 87 Sr 86 Sr = 0.70365−0.70555 ; 143 Nd 144 Nd = 0.5129−0.51248 ( ϵ Nd = +6.0 to −2.4) ; 206 pb 204 Pb = 17.9−19.3 . Most compositions lie outside the isotopic ranges of temporally and spatially appropriate mantle source compositions observed in this area, i.e., Red Sea/Gulf of Aden MORB mantle, the Afar plume, and Pan-African lithospheric mantle Correlations between indices of fractionation, silica, and isotope ratios suggest that crustal contamination has substantially modified the primary isotopic and incompatible trace element characteristics of the flood basalts. However, significant scatter in these correlations was produced by: (a) the heterogeneous isotopic composition of Pan-African crust; (b) the difference in susceptibility of magmas to contamination as a result of variable incompatible trace element contents in primary melts produced by differing degrees of partial melting; (c) the presence or absence of plagioclase as a fractionating phase generating complex contamination trajectories for Sr; (d) sampling over a wide area not representing a single coherent magmatic system; and (e) variation in contamination mechanisms from assimilation associated with fractionation (AFC) to assimilation by hot mafic magmas with little concomitant fractionation. The presence of plagioclase as a fractionating phase in some suites that were undergoing AFC requires assimilation to have taken place within the crust and, coupled with the limited LREE-enrichment accompanying isotopic variations, excludes the possibility that an AFC-type process took place during magma transfer through the lithospheric mantle. Isotopic compositions of some of the inferred crustal assimilants are similar to those postulated by other workers for an enriched lithospheric mantle source of many flood basalts in southwestern Yemen, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. The western Yemen flood basalts contain 0–30% crust which largely swamps their primary lead isotopic signature, but the primary SrNd isotopic signature is close to that of the least contaminated and isotopically most depleted flood basalts. LREE HFSE and LILE HFSE ratios also correlate with isotopic data as a result of crustal contamination. However, Nb La and K Nb ratios of >1.1 and <150, respectively, in least contaminated samples require an OIB-like source. The pre-contamination isotopic signature is estimated to be: 87 Sr 86 Sr ∼ 0.7036; 143 Nd 144 Nd ∼ 0.51292 ; 206 Pb 204 Pb ∼ 18.4−19.0 . This, coupled with low LILE HFSE ratios, suggest the source has characteristics akin to the Afar plume. A mantle source isotopically more depleted than Bulk Earth, but not as depleted as MORB, coupled with LILE depletion, also characterises other examples of plume-derived flood volcanism. This mantle reservoir is responsible for the second largest outbursts of volcanism on Earth and has radiogenic isotopic characteristics akin to PREMA mantle, but the incompatible trace element signature of HIMU mantle.