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Published in

Oxford University Press (OUP), Journal of Petrology, 3(52), p. 565-602

DOI: 10.1093/petrology/egq091

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Perspective on the Genesis of E-MORB from Chemical and Isotopic Heterogeneity at 9–10°N East Pacific Rise

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

The discovery of chemically and isotopically enriched mid-ocean ridge basalts (E-MORB) has offered substantial insight into the origin, time scales, and length scales of mantle heterogeneity. However, the exact processes involved in producing this E-MORB enrichment are vigorously debated. Additionally, because the ages of E-MORB are not well constrained, the petrogenetic, temporal, and geological relationships between E-MORB and normal (N)-MORB are not known. To investigate these relationships and to ex-plore how melting and melt transport processes contribute to or modify enriched mantle source compositions and generate E-MORB melts beneath mid-ocean ridges, we measured major and trace elem-ents, and Sr, Nd, Hf, Pb, and U^Th^Ra isotopes for a suite of lavas that were collected off-axis, including several E-MORB, at 9^108N along the East Pacific Rise (EPR). These data show co-herent mixing trends among long-lived radiogenic isotopes, U-series nuclides, and incompatible trace elements, implying that mixing of melts from different sources occurs at different depths. Our results are consistent with previous studies that show that melting occurs in a two-porosity melting regime, with high-porosity channels forming deeply in the presence of garnet and transporting enriched melts with large 230 Th excesses to the crust, whereas low-porosity channels transport melts more slowly, allowing them to equilibrate at shallow depths and develop large 226 Ra excesses at the expense of diminished 230 Th excesses. Forward modeling of the trace element data also is consistent with mixing of melts in a two-porosity melting regime. U-series age constraints suggest that E-MORB neither erupt at sys-tematically different times from N-MORB, nor necessarily through different pathways. Previous studies of E-MORB at 9^108N have suggested that E-MORB compositions could be explained by off-axis eruption. However, when considered in light of previously published magnetic paleointensity and U-series age constraints, recent geological studies, and the most widely accepted contemporary understanding of volcanic construction at 9^108N EPR, the asym-metric, off-axis distribution of E-MORB at 9^108N EPR is con-sistent with, and more simply explained by, a model in which E-MORB erupted within the axial summit trough (AST) and flowed down the ridge flanks ($0^3 km). These E-MORB subse-quently spread away from the AST, and, finally, were preserved on the seafloor through asymmetric construction of the extrusive layer. Taken together, the range of ages of E-MORB at 9^108N EPR and the geochemical and isotopic mixing trends suggest that enriched melts are continuously supplied to the ridge axis, but because of their