Authors
Gordana Garapic, Ananya Mallik, Rajdeep Dasgupta, Matthew Jackson
Publication date
2015
Journal
American Mineralogist
Volume
100
Pages
2066-2081
Description
Helium isotopes are used as a tracer for primitive reservoirs that have persisted in the Earth’s mantle. Basalts erupted at several intraplate oceanic islands, including Hawaii, Iceland, Galapagos, and Samoa, have hosted the highest 3He/4He ratios (>30 Ra, where Ra is atmospheric 3He/4He ratio) globally that are far in excess of the 3He/4He typical of the upper mantle sampled at mid-ocean ridges (8 Ra). These lavas have been suggested to be melts of a primitive, or possibly slightly depleted, mantle reservoir, i.e., either fertile or a depleted peridotite. Here we report evidence for geochemical enrichment in the high-3He/4He mantle sampled by lavas with the highest 3He/4He from Hawaii, Samoa, and possibly Galapagos. The titanium concentrations in high-3He/4He lavas from Samoa are too high to be explained by melts of a mantle peridotite, even at infinitesimally small degrees of melting, and the elevated Ti …
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