Analyzing subduction initiation is key for understanding the coupling between plate tectonics and the underlying mantle. Here we focus on suprasubduction zone (SSZ) ophiolites and how their formation links to intraoceanic subduction initiation in an absolute plate motion frame. SSZ ophiolites form the majority of exposed oceanic lithosphere fragments and are widely recognized to have formed during intraoceanic subduction initiation. Structural, petrological, geochemical, and plate kinematic constraints on their kinematic evolution show that SSZ crust forms at fore-arc spreading centers at the expense of a mantle wedge, thereby flattening the nascent slab. This leads to the typical inverted pressure gradients found in metamorphic soles that form at the subduction plate contact below and during SSZ crust crystallization. Former spreading centers are preserved in forearcs when subduction initiates along transform faults or offridge oceanic detachments. We show how these are reactivated when subduction initiates in the absolute plate motion direction of the inverting weakness zone. Upon inception of slab pull due to, e.g., eclogitization, the sole is separated from the slab, remains welded to the thinned overriding plate lithosphere, and can become intruded by mafic dikes upon asthenospheric influx into the mantle wedge. We propound that most ophiolites thus formed under special geodynamic circumstances and may not be representative of normal oceanic crust. Our study highlights how far-field geodynamic processes and absolute plate motions may force intraoceanic subduction initiation as key toward advancing our understanding of the entire plate tectonic cycle.
crystallization trends indicate distinctly lower bulk partition coefficients for IPGE in more evolved lavas, possibly reflecting a change in the fractionating assemblages. Pd and Re in the primitive melts display negative correlations with MgO, demonstrating moderately incompatible behavior of these elements during fractionation, while the significantly scattered variation in Pt against MgO may indicate the effects of micronuggets of a Pt-rich alloy. Osrich alkaline primary lavas (>50 ppt Os) exhibit a limited range of 187 Os/ 188 Os (0.1361-0.1404), with some xenolith-bearing lavas displaying depletions in 187 Os/ 188 Os (0.1131-0.1232), suggesting slight compositional modification of primitive melts through contamination with highly depleted, Os-rich mantle lithosphere. More radiogenic Os isotope ratios ( 187 Os/ 188 Os > 0.1954) in the evolved lavas reflect contamination of the magmas by high 187 Os/ 188 Os crustal material during shallow differentiation. The OIB-type lavas show limited variations in Hf and Pb isotopes with Hf ratios correlate negatively with 208 Pb*/ 206 Pb*, suggesting the effects of similar mantle processes on the evolution of time-integrated Th/U and Lu/Hf. These lavas have distinctly higher 176 Hf/ 177 Hf and lower 208 Pb*/ 206 Pb* than the Early-Middle Miocene lavas of the region, which are interpreted as melts of enriched mantle with an overprint by sediment-derived subduction component. The source region for the OIB-type alkaline melts is interpreted to be a sub-lithospheric reservoir enriched in Hf and Pb isotopes with respect to depleted MORB mantle. Combined evaluation of Hf, Pb, and Os isotopes suggests that the relative enrichment in this domain is related to mixing of ancient oceanic crust with the ambient mantle through long-term plate recycling processes.Abstract Hf-Pb-Os isotope compositions and highly siderophile element (HSE) abundance variations are used to evaluate the mantle source characteristics and possible effects of differentiation processes in lavas from western Turkey, where the eruption of Late Miocene to Quaternary OIB-type intraplate mafic alkaline lavas followed pre-Middle Miocene convergent margin-type volcanism. Concentrations of Os, Ir, and Ru (IPGE) in the OIB-type intraplate lavas decrease with fractionation for primitive melts (MgO > 10 wt%), suggesting that these elements reside predominantly in olivine and associated HSE retaining trace phases and behave compatibly during olivine-dominated fractionation. Fractional Communicated by
The Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous age mafic lavas from the Neotethyan suture zone ophiolites in western Turkey exhibit a wide diversity of geochemical signatures, indicating derivation from extremely heterogeneous mantle sources. The rocks as a whole can be divided into three broad subdivisions based on their bulk-rock geochemical characteristics: (1) mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) that range in composition from light rare earth element (LREE)-depleted varieties (N-MORB; (La/Sm) N < 1) through transitional MORB to LREE enriched types (E-MORB; (La/Sm) N > 1); (2) the ocean island basalt (OIB)-type alkaline volcanic rocks with significant enrichment in LILE, HFSE and L-MREE, and a slight depletion in HREE, relative to normal mid-ocean ridge basalts (N-MORB); and (3) the supra-subduction zone (SSZ)-type tholeiites originated from arc mantle sources that are characterized by selective enrichments in fluid-soluble large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and LREE relative to the high field strength elements (HFSE). The formation of MORB tholeiites with variable enrichments and depletions in incompatible trace elements is probably related to the processes of crust generation along an oceanic spreading system, and the observed MORB-OIB associations can be modelled by heterogeneous source contribution and mixing of melts from chemically discrete sources from sub-lithospheric reservoirs. Evaluation of trace element systematics shows that the inferred heterogeneities within the mantle source regions are likely to have originated from continuous processes of formation and destruction of enriched mantle domains by long-term plate recycling, convective mixing and melt extraction. The origin of SSZ-type tholeiites with back-arc basin affinities, on the other hand, can be attributed to the later intra-oceanic subduction and plate convergence which led to the generation of supra-subduction-type oceanic crust as a consequence of imparting a certain extent of subduction component into the mantle melting region. Mixing of melts from a multiply depleted mantle source, which subsequently received variable re-enrichment with a subduction component, is suggested to explain the generation of supra-subduction-type oceanic crust. The geodynamic setting in which much of the SSZ-type ophiolitic extrusive rocks from western Turkey were generated can be described as an arc-basin system that is characterized by an oceanic lithosphere generation most probably associated with melting of mantle material along a supra-subduction-type spreading centre.
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