Owing to the importance of serpentinites for planetary geochemical and geodynamic processes, there has been much work discerning the origins of their parent rocks, including distinguishing between serpentinites derived from a subducting plate versus overlying mantle in exhumed subduction complexes. The island of New Caledonia (SW Pacific Ocean) provides a rare window into Cenozoic Pacific subduction processes. The island is unique in exposing both an exceptionally preserved high‐pressure, low‐temperature subduction complex and one of the largest supra‐subduction zone ophiolites in the world. Previous studies disagree on the origin of serpentinites in the subduction complex. In this study, we analyze 23 serpentinites from this complex for whole‐rock major and trace element geochemistry and stable isotope (δD, δ18O) compositions. Our data reveal two distinct groups of serpentinites: Group I samples in the northern portion of the complex are pervasively serpentinized, and exhibit enriched heavy rare earth element (REE) compositions and δ18O values between +6.7‰ and +10.2‰. In contrast, Group II serpentinites in the south preserve relict orthopyroxene and olivine, and show depleted trace element compositions and comparatively lower δ18O values between +5.1‰ and +8.0‰. We interpret Group I serpentinites to derive from downgoing plate mantle, whereas Group II serpentinites derive from overlying mantle wedge, exhibiting remarkable similarity to the REE geochemistry of the structurally overlying New Caledonia ophiolite. Our results establish the subduction complex in New Caledonia as an unusual natural record of the entrainment and exhumation of mantle from both the overlying mantle wedge and the downgoing plate in an oceanic subduction zone.
Oxygen isotopic ratios are largely homogenous in the bulk of Earth’s mantle but are strongly fractionated near the Earth’s surface, thus these are robust indicators of recycling of surface materials to the mantle. Here we document a subtle but significant ~0.2‰ temporal decrease in δ18O in the shallowest continental lithospheric mantle since the Archean, no change in Δ′17O is observed. Younger samples document a decrease and greater heterogeneity of δ18O due to the development and progression of plate tectonics and subduction. We posit that δ18O in the oldest Archean samples provides the best δ18O estimate for the Earth of 5.37‰ for olivine and 5.57‰ for bulk peridotite, values that are comparable to lunar rocks as the moon did not have plate tectonics. Given the large volume of the continental lithospheric mantle, even small decreases in its δ18O may explain the increasing δ18O of the continental crust since oxygen is progressively redistributed by fluids between these reservoirs via high-δ18O sediment accretion and low-δ18O mantle in subduction zones.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1833420
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10368504
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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