HR: 08:45h
AN: V51G-04    [Abstracts]
TI: How does recycling of sediment components in arc magmatism really work?
AU: * Kelemen, P
EM: peterk@ldeo.columbia.edu
AF: Columbia, LDEO, Palisades, NY 10964, United States
AU: Hacker, B
EM: hacker@geol.ucsb.edu
AF: UCSB, ICS, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
AU: Austin, N
EM: naustin@mit.edu
AF: MIT, EAPS, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
AB: Past work indicates substantial recycling of a sediment component rich in LILE, Th, Sr, Pb and LREE in arcs. For example, in the relatively well-constrained case of Central America, Plank et al (Geology 02) estimate that 80% of subducted, sedimentary Th is recycled in arc magmas. To understand how such a component is transferred from subducted sediment to arc lava, we examined trace-element variation in (a) mid-crustal (0.4 GPa) contact metamorphic rocks (Austin & Kelemen, Fall 06 AGU) and (b) ultrahigh-pressure (UHP, > 3 GPa) metasediments. Most UHP samples were metamorphosed along subduction-zone geotherms (Hacker, Int Geol Rev 06), but some record substantially higher T (e.g., Erzgebirge & Kokchetav, Massone EPSL 03).

Unmelted, mid-crustal metapelites are indistinguishable from pelitic sediments for the entire suite of elements analyzed by ICP-MS at WSU. Melt extraction from the mid-crustal metapelites led to systematic depletion of incompatible elements in high-grade hornfels. Depletion increases with decreasing distance to the contact with a mafic pluton, most clearly at peak T > 750°C.

In contrast, although many UHP metapelites record PT above the aqueous fluid-saturated solidus, and have fluid inclusions and/or hydrous phases, compared to pelites they show no detectable depletion of "fluid-mobile" elements such as LILE (Cs, Rb, Ba, U, K), Sr and Pb, no depletion of "fluid-immobile, incompatible" elements such as Th and LREE, and no systematic change in key soluble/insoluble ratios such as Ba/Th or K/Zr up to ~1000 C. Mobility of incompatible elements is evident for T > 1000 C, well above PT for subduction-zone geotherms. Presumably, trace phases rich in LILE, Th and LREE persist to ~1050 C in metapelites at UHP conditions.

How can our observations be reconciled with the recycled sediment component in arc lavas? Our preferred hypothesis is that low-density metasediments rise into the mantle wedge when heating yields viscosities low enough for density-driven instabilities (Ringwood JGSL 74; Marsh AJS 76; Gerya & Yuen EPSL 03; Kelemen et al, Treatise on Geochem 03). In the wedge, metasedimentary diapirs heat as they rise, and undergo large degrees of super-adiabatic partial melting which exhaust trace phases, releasing the sediment component observed in arcs.
DE: 1031 Subduction zone processes (3060, 3613, 8170, 8413)
DE: 3613 Subduction zone processes (1031, 3060, 8170, 8413)
DE: 3654 Ultra-high pressure metamorphism
DE: 8170 Subduction zone processes (1031, 3060, 3613, 8413)
SC: Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology [V]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting