The relationships between drastic changes in Sr isotope ratios of magma sources beneath the NE Japan arc and the spreading of the Japan sea back-arc basin

Abstract

Based on Sr isotopic data for Tertiary and Quaternary basaltic rocks from the NE Japan arc, relationships are discussed between the temporal variation of magma source characteristics and the opening of the Japan Sea. The basaltic rocks from the trench side and from the transitional zone show initial87Sr/86Sr ratios (Sri ratios) in the range of 0.70411–0.70546 but no temporal variation in Sri ratios. The back-arc side basaltic rocks with ages of 29.8 to ≈ 15 Ma have Sri ratios similar to those of the trench side and the transitional zone, and these values also show no temporal change. In contrast, the basaltic rocks from the back-arc side, with ages younger than ≈ 15 Ma, show significantly lower Sri ratios (0.70396 to 0.70290), which are slightly higher than those of N-type MORB. These Sr isotopic features may imply that at least before ≈ 15 Ma the magma source regions (the sub-continental mantle) beneath the NE Japan arc had an enriched chemical character and that after ≈ 15 Ma, the magma sources for volcanic rocks from the back-arc side show a drastic change in Sr isotopic character, from an enriched nature to a depleted one. The depleted magmas may have been formed as a result of injection of depleted asthenosphere (or of a depleted mantle diapir) into the subcontinental mantle under the back-arc side of the NE Japan arc, during the spreading of the Japan Sea back-arc basin. The middle Miocene basaltic rocks from the back-arc side are characterized by lower contents of LIL elements such as K2O and Rb compared with those from the trench side, suggesting that during the middle Miocene (syn-opening stage of the Japan Sea) the degree of partial melting may have been higher in the back-arc side mantle than in the trench side mantle. High degree of partial melting in the back-arc side mantle can be attributed to an increasing geothermal gradient in the mantle due to the injection of hot asthenosphere. This injection might also have caused the melting of the lower crust from which the voluminous middle Miocene acidic volcanics in the back-arc side and transitional zone may have been produced.