Abstract Young mafic lavas from the East African Western Rift record melting of subcontinental lithospheric mantle that was metasomatically modified by multiple tectonic events. We report new isotope data from monogenetic cinder cones near Bufumbira, Uganda, in the Virunga Volcanic Field:87Sr/86Sr = 0.7059–0.7079,εNd = −6.5 to −1.3,εHf = −6.3 to +0.9,208Pb/204Pb = 40.1–40.7,207Pb/204Pb = 15.68–15.75, and206Pb/204Pb = 19.27–19.45. Olivine phenocrysts from the Bufumbira lavas have3He/4He = 6.0–7.4RA. The isotopic data, in conjunction with major and trace element systematics, indicate that primitive Bufumbira magmas are derived from two different metasomatized lithospheric source domains. Melts generated by lower degrees of melting record greater contributions from ∼1 to 2 Ga isotopically enriched garnet‐amphibole‐phlogopite pyroxenite veins within the lithosphere. As melting progresses, these vein melts become increasingly diluted by melts that originate near the lithosphere/asthenosphere boundary, shifting the isotopic compositions toward the common lithospheric mantle (CLM) proposed by Furman and Graham (1999,https://doi.org/10.1016/s0024-4937(99)00031-6). This ∼450–500 Ma source domain appears to underlie all Western Rift volcanic provinces and is characterized by87Sr/86Sr ∼ 0.705,εNd∼ 0,εHf∼ +1 to +3,206Pb/204Pb ∼ 19.0–19.2,208Pb/204Pb ∼ 39.7, and3He/4He ∼ 7RA. Basal portions of the dense subcontinental lithospheric mantle may become gravitationally unstable and founder into underlying warmer asthenosphere, exposing surfaces where melting of locally heterogeneous veins produces small‐volume, alkaline mafic melts. Mafic lavas from all Western Rift volcanic provinces record mixing between the CLM and locally variable metasomatized source domains, suggesting this style of melt generation is fundamental to the development of magma‐poor rifts. 
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                            The Signature of Metasomatized Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle in the Basaltic Magmatism of the Payenia Volcanic Province, Argentina
                        
                    
    
            Abstract The Payenia region of Argentina (34.5–38°S) is a large Pliocene‐Quaternary volcanic province of basaltic compositions in the Andean Cordillera foothills representing the northernmost extent of back‐arc volcanism in the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ). Although the chemical diversity of the Payenia basalts has been characterized previously, the processes and sources responsible for such variation remain controversial. Here, we report new whole‐rock major and trace element concentrations, Sr‐, Nd‐, Hf‐, and Pb‐isotope ratios and high‐precision olivine oxygen‐isotope ratios in a suite of 35 alkaline basalts from Payenia. These lavas have major and trace elements that define a compositional range from arc‐influenced to intraplate signature. Variable crustal contamination and/or recent slab‐derived inputs inadequately account for elemental and isotopic systematics and spatial compositional variations of Payenia lavas. We present a simple forward model indicating that early metasomatism and subsequent melting of the metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) has significantly contributed to the Payenia lava compositional range. Isotopic ingrowth calculations of radiogenic Sr, Nd, Hf, and Pb suggest that the SCLM metasomatism occurred at 50–150 Ma, consistent with the timing of the breakup of Gondwana and the development of the proto‐Pacific Andean arc. Variations in δ18Oolivinevalues from modeled melts indicate that the metasomatism and melting within the SCLM can fractionate oxygen isotopes even when the metasomatizing melt has MORB‐like δ18O values, providing a different explanation for the low‐δ18O signatures observed in continental arc settings. 
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                            - Award ID(s):
- 1829464
- PAR ID:
- 10473484
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Geophysical Union
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1525-2027
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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