GSA Connects 2022 meeting in Denver, Colorado

Paper No. 235-6
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

NATURE OF NORTHWEST PACIFIC ALTERED OCEANIC CRUST AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ARC MAGMATISM


WALDMAN, Ryan1, YOGODZINSKI, Gene2, HAUFF, Folkmar3, BIZIMIS, Michael1, JICHA, Brian R.4, PORTNYAGIN, Maxim3, WERNER, Reinhard3 and HOERNLE, Kaj3, (1)School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, (2)School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, (3)GEOMAR Helmholtz Center, Kiel, 24148, Germany, (4)Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI 53706

Whole-rock and glass data for dredge samples collected on R/V Sonne SO249 are combined with DSDP Site 581 data to characterize altered NW Pacific MORB and address implications for AOC (altered oceanic crust) subduction inputs to the Aleutian and Kamchatka arcs. Sample ages range from 41-66Ma east of the Emperor Seamounts to 80-120Ma west of the Emperors. Most samples are depleted tholeiites, with Sm/Nd from 0.25 to 0.41 (mean = 0.33 n=104) and TiO2 from 0.80 to 2.8. Hf-Nd isotopes for most eastern samples (εNd=3.0-10.7, εHf=13.1-15.6, t=50) are Pacific-type MORB. Western samples lie mostly at the radiogenic end of the Pacific-MORB field (εNd=10.0-12.5, εHf ~16, t=100 Ma) but include some with εHf ~18.5 similar to Indian-type MORB. Glasses have trace elements of normal MORB but whole-rock samples are seawater-altered. This is reflected in negative Ce anomalies which are inversely correlated with εNd from ~2.0 to 9.5. Mixing patterns implicate absorption of REE from North Pacific bottom water, which has unradiogenic Nd and is enriched in LREE except for Ce. Laser-ablation results show that LREE enrichment is localized in the devitrified groundmass. Low REE concentrations in North Pacific seawater necessitate complete REE exchange with ~ 3x106 kg of seawater per kg of basalt to produce the measured REE abundances in AOC.

Whole-rock samples have typical 208Pb/204Pb (37.2-38.7), 207Pb/204Pb (15.35-15.62), and high 206Pb/204Pb (18.0-18.9), with the highest 206Pb/204Pb in the western samples. Leached WR samples have more radiogenic and variable Pb isotopes than unleached. Glass samples are generally unradiogenic, with 206Pb/204Pb 18.0-18.2. Whole-rock high 206Pb/204Pb and variable 208Pb/204Pb likely reflect U-enrichment and 206Pb ingrowth, whereas the glass compositions likely reflect mantle source. Aleutian and Kamchatka arc rocks define Pb-isotope mixing trends with unradiogenic endmembers that carry Pacific and Indian-realm Pb isotopes similar to those in MORB glasses from our eastern and western sample sets respectively. This correlation, and the lack of correlation between AOC and arc Pb isotopes implies that unradiogenic Pb in Aleutian and Kamchatka arc rocks is derived primarily from the relatively unaltered interior of the subducting oceanic crust.