Recycled oceanic crust observed in ‘ghost plagioclase’ within the source of Mauna Loa lavas

Alexander V. Sobolev (), Albrecht W. Hofmann and Igor K. Nikogosian
Additional contact information
Alexander V. Sobolev: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie
Albrecht W. Hofmann: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie
Igor K. Nikogosian: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie

Nature, 2000, vol. 404, issue 6781, 986-990

Abstract: Abstract The hypothesis that mantle plumes contain recycled oceanic crust1 is now widely accepted. Some specific source components of the Hawaiian plume have been inferred to represent recycled oceanic basalts2, pelagic sediments3,4 or oceanic gabbros5. Bulk lava compositions, however, retain the specific trace-element fingerprint of the original crustal component in only a highly attenuated form. Here we report the discovery of exotic, strontium-enriched melt inclusions in Mauna Loa olivines. Their complete trace-element patterns strongly resemble those of layered gabbros found in ophiolites, which are characterized by cumulus plagioclase with very high strontium abundances6. The major-element compositions of these melts indicate that their composition cannot be the result of the assimilation of present-day oceanic crust through which the melts have travelled. Instead, the gabbro has been transformed into a (high-pressure) eclogite by subduction and recycling, and this eclogite has then been incorporated into the Hawaiian mantle plume. The trace-element signature of the original plagioclase is present only as a ‘ghost’ signature, which permits specific identification of the recycled rock type. The ‘ghost plagioclase’ trace-element signature demonstrates that the former gabbro can retain much of its original chemical identity through the convective cycle without completely mixing with other portions of the former oceanic crust.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35010098 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:404:y:2000:i:6781:d:10.1038_35010098

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35010098

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().