Episodic entrainment of deep primordial mantle material into ocean island basalts.

The helium paradoxes.

The ratio 3He/4He (R) plays a central role in models of mantle evolution that propose an undegassed lower mantle, rich in the primordial isotope 3He. A large primordial volatile-rich reservoir, a feature of recent models, is inconsistent with high-temperature accretion and with estimates of crustal and bulk Earth chemistry. High R can alternatively reflect high integrated 3He/(U+Th) ratios or l...

Crustal Contamination of Kilauea Volcano Magmas Revealed by Oxygen Isotope Analyses of Glass and Olivine from Puu Oo Eruption Lavas

Oceanic island basalts have a large range in dO values (4·5– INTRODUCTION 7·5‰) compared with the assumed primordial mantle values A 1996 conference on ‘shallow level processes in ocean (5·5–6·0‰) and with mid-ocean ridge basalts (5·7 ± 0·2‰). island magmatism’ drew attention to the controversy that Some Hawaiian tholeiitic basalts have low O values (4·6–5·2‰), is developing on the possible ext...

Zn/Fe systematics in mafic and ultramafic systems: Implications for detecting major element heterogeneities in the Earth’s mantle

Oceanic basalts, such as mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) and ocean island basalts (OIB), are characterized by large isotopic and trace element variability that is hard to reconcile with partial melting of a peridotitic mantle alone. Their variability has been attributed to the presence of heterogeneities within the mantle, such as recycled crust, metasomatized material or outer core contribution...

Major element chemistry of ocean island basalts — Conditions of mantle melting and heterogeneity of mantle source

Wrangellia Terrane on Vancouver Island, British Columbia: Distribution of Flood Basalts with Implications for Potential Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralization in Southwestern British Columbia

Wrangellia consists largely of an oceanic plateau, a vast outpouring of basalt and more Mg-rich magma that erupted onto the ocean floor and was subsequently accreted to the western margin of the North American plate. Flood basalts form extensive sequences on Vancouver Island and are believed to have formed by melting in a mantle plume (an upwelling zone of hot mantle rock). They form the oceani...