The Icelandic hotspot has erupted basaltic magma with the highest mantle‐derived3He/4He over a period spanning much of the Cenozoic, from the early‐Cenozoic Baffin Island‐West Greenland flood basalt province (49.8
Using a recently compiled global marine data set of dissolved helium isotopes and helium and neon concentrations, we make an estimate of the inventory of hydrothermal3He in the Southern Ocean to be 4.9 ± 0.6 × 104 moles. Under the assumption that the bulk of the hydrothermally sourced3He is upwelled there, we use recent estimates of the global hydrothermal3He flux to determine an
- Award ID(s):
- 1756138
- PAR ID:
- 10452071
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 47
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract A), to mid‐Miocene lavas in northwest Iceland (40.2 to 47.5R A), to Pleistocene lavas in Iceland's neovolcanic zone (34.3R A). The Baffin Island lavas transited through and potentially assimilated variable amounts of Precambrian continental basement. We use geochemical indicators sensitive to continental crust assimilation (Nb/Th, Ce/Pb, MgO) to identify the least crustally contaminated lavas. Four lavas, identified as “least crustally contaminated,” have high MgO (>15 wt.%), and Nb/Th and Ce/Pb that fall within the mantle range (Nb/Th = 15.6 ± 2.6, Ce/Pb = 24.3 ± 4.3). These lavas have87Sr/86Sr = 0.703008–0.703021,143Nd/144Nd = 0.513094–0.513128,176Hf/177Hf = 0.283265–0.283284,206Pb/204Pb = 17.7560–17.9375,3He/4He up to 39.9R A, and mantle‐like δ18O of 5.03–5.21‰. The radiogenic isotopic compositions of the least crustally contaminated lavas are more geochemically depleted than Iceland high‐3He/4He lavas, a shift that cannot be explained by continental crust assimilation in the Baffin suite. Thus, we argue for the presence ofR two geochemically distinct high‐3He/4He components within the Iceland plume. Additionally, the least crustally contaminated primary melts from Baffin Island‐West Greenland have higher mantle potential temperatures (1510 to 1630 °C) than Siqueiros mid‐ocean ridge basalts (1300 to 1410 °C), which attests to a hot, buoyant plume origin for early Iceland plume lavas. These observations support the contention that the geochemically heterogeneous high‐3He/4He domain is dense, located in the deep mantle, and sampled by only the hottest plumes. -
Abstract The noble gas signature of incoming Pacific Bottom Water (PBW), when compared to North Atlantic Deep Water, indicates the addition of 450 ± 70 GT a−1glacial melt water to form AABW and subsequently PBW. The downstream evolution of this signature between the southern (20°S to equator) and northern (25°–45°N) bottom waters indicates a decrease in sea level pressure around Antarctica over the past two millennia. Vertical profiles of noble gases in the deep Pacific show exponential relationships with depth with scale heights identical to temperature and salinity. Unlike the other noble gases, helium isotopes show evidence of mid‐depth injection of non‐atmospheric helium. Using observed deviations from exponential behavior, we quantify its magnitude and isotope ratio. There is a clear latitude trend in the isotope ratio of this added helium that decreases from a high exceeding 9 RA(atmospheric3He/4He ratio) in the south to around 8 RAnear the equator. North of 30–40°N, it systematically decreases northward to a low of ∼2 RAnorth of 50°N. This decline results from a combination of northward decline in seafloor spreading, release of radiogenic helium from increased sediment thickness, and the possible emission of radiogenic helium through cold seeps along the Alaskan and North American margins. Finally, we derive an improved method of computing the excess helium isotope concentrations and that the distributions of bottom water3HeXS/4HeXSare consistent with what is known about bottom water flow patterns and the input of low3He/4He sedimentary helium.
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p CO2of the atmosphere and helps maintain the oxygen distributions in the ocean. Global models of this flux are poorly verified with observations. We used upper‐ocean budgets of O2and the13C/12C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) to estimate the biological pump in the subtropical gyres. These two tracers yield, within errors, similar result (~2.0 mol C·m−2·year−1) at three Northern Hemisphere subtropical locations. Values for three Southern Hemisphere subtropical regions are lower and more variable determined by the O2mass balance than by the DI13C method (−0.5 to 0.8 mol C·m−2·year−1and 0.9 to 1.3 mol C·m−2·year−1, respectively). Both methods suggest that the subtropical ocean is, on the whole, autotropic. The gas exchange residence times of O2and dissolved inorganic carbon result in different spatial and temporal averaging creating complementary tracers for biological pump model verification. -
Abstract The iron (Fe) supply to phytoplankton communities in the Southern Ocean surface exerts a strong control on oceanic carbon storage and global climate. Hydrothermal vents are one potential Fe source to this region, but it is not known whether hydrothermal Fe persists in seawater long enough to reach the surface before it is removed by particle scavenging. A new study (Jenkins, 2020,
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Abstract A major goal in Earth Science has been to understand how geochemical characteristics of lavas at the Earth's surface relate to the location and formation history of specific regions in the Earth's interior. For example, some of the strongest evidence for the preservation of primitive material comes from low4He/3He ratios in ocean island basalts, but the location of the primitive helium reservoir(s) remains unknown. Here we combine whole‐mantle seismic tomography, simulations of mantle flow, and a global compilation of new and existing measurements of the4He/3He ratios in ocean island basalts to constrain the source location of primitive4He/3He material. Our geodynamic simulations predict the present‐day surface expression of plumes to be laterally offset from their lower mantle source locations. When this lateral offset is accounted for, a strong relationship emerges between minimum4He/3He ratios in oceanic basalts and seismically slow regions, which are generally located within the two large low shear‐wave velocity provinces (LLSVPs). Conversely, no significant relationship is observed between maximum208Pb*/206Pb*ratios and seismically slow regions in the lowermost mantle. These results indicate that primitive materials are geographically restricted to LLSVPs, while recycled materials are more broadly distributed across the lower mantle. The primitive nature of the LLSVPs indicates these regions are not composed entirely of recycled slabs, while complementary xenon and tungsten isotopic anomalies require the primitive portion of the LLSVPs to have formed during Earth's accretion, survived the Moon‐forming giant impact, and remained relatively unmixed during the subsequent 4.5 billion years of mantle convection.