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Evolution of carbonated melt to alkali basalt in the South China Sea

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 229–235 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

CO2 is considered to play a key role in the melting of the deep upper mantle, and carbonated silicate melts have been widely predicted by partial melting experiments to exist at mantle depths of greater than 80 km. However, such melts have not been shown to exist in nature. Thus, the relationship between CO2 and the origin of silicate melts is highly speculative. Here we present geochemical analyses of rocks sampled from the South China Sea, at the Integrated Ocean Discovery Program Site U1431. We identify natural carbonated silicate melts, which are enriched in light rare earth elements and depleted in Nb and Ta, and show that they were continuously transformed to alkali basalts that are less enriched in light rare earth elements and enriched in Nb and Ta. This shows that carbonated silicate melts can survive in the shallow mantle and penetrate through the hot asthenosphere. Carbonated silicate melts were converted to alkali basaltic melts through reactions with the lithospheric mantle, during which precipitation of apatite accounts for reduction of light rare earth elements and genesis of positive Nb–Ta anomalies. We propose that an extremely thin lithosphere (less than 20 km in the South China Sea) facilitates extrusion of the carbonated silicate melts, whereas a thickened lithosphere tends to modify carbonated silicate melt to alkali basalt.

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Figure 1: Map of the South China Sea, sampling location and stratigraphy of recovered cores.
Figure 2: Plots showing relationships of CaO, P2O5 and La versus SiO2 for Site U1431 volcanic clasts.
Figure 3: Trace element patterns for Site U1431 volcanic clasts.
Figure 4: Plots of ɛNd versus 87Sr/86Sr, and 208Pb/204Pb versus 206Pb/204Pb for Site U1431 volcanic clasts.
Figure 5: Effects of apatite fractionation and lithosphere thickness.
Figure 6: Schematic evolution of carbonated silicate melts in the lithosphere.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the dedicated effort of the ship’s crew and scientific staff of the Drillship JOIDES Resolution. We thank X.-J. Wang for Sr–Nd–Hf isotope analyses, J.-X. Zhao and L.-F. Zhong for Pb isotope analyses, and A. Kylander-Clark for LA-ICP-MS analyses. G.-L.Z. and M.G.J. thank F. Spera for discussions on melt immiscibility. We thank C. Class for constructive suggestions. This work was financially supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA11030103), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41522602, 41376065, 41372064), and AoShan Talent Program Supported by Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (No. 2015ASTP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 266071 Qingdao, China

    Guo-Liang Zhang

  2. Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, 266000 Qingdao, China

    Guo-Liang Zhang

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9630, USA

    Guo-Liang Zhang & Matthew G. Jackson

  4. State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, 210023 Nanjing, China

    Li-Hui Chen

  5. Max-Planck-Institute für Chemie, Postfach, 55020 Mainz, Germany

    Albrecht W. Hofmann

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G.-L.Z. designed this project and wrote the manuscript. M.G.J., L.-H.C. and A.W.H. contributed to the scientific discussion, including interpretation of the results and scientific implications.

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Correspondence to Guo-Liang Zhang or Li-Hui Chen.

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Zhang, GL., Chen, LH., Jackson, M. et al. Evolution of carbonated melt to alkali basalt in the South China Sea. Nature Geosci 10, 229–235 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2877

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