Abstract
New Pb-, Sr-, and Nd-isotopic data have been obtained for the rocks of volcanoes overlying a wide range of depths (100–580 km) to the Wadati-Benioff Zone (WBZ) in the New Britain island arc, Papua New Guinea. Well-defined trends consistent with two-component mixing are observed in combined Pb-isotope/trace-element plots. One of the components is believed to represent a slab contribution whose isotopic signature, unlike those noted for several other arcs, appears to be dominated by subducted, altered, oceanic crust rather than by sediment. This conclusion is consistent with the results of a recent Be−B study of New Britain rocks. The influence of the slab component is considered to decrease as depth to the WBZ increases. Higher abundances of high-field-strength elements correlate with increasing depths to the WBZ, and may be indicative of smaller degrees of partial melting of the mantle wedge as WBZ depths increase. Abundances of other incompatible elements appear to reflect a complex interplay between the slab-derived flux and melting process.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Arculus RJ, Johnson RW (1981) Island-arc magma sources: a geochemical assessment of the roles of slab-derived components and crustal contamination. Geochem J 15:109–133
Chappell BW (1991) Trace element analysis of rocks by X-ray spectrometry. In: Barrett CS, Gilfrich JV, Noyan IC, Huang TC, Predecki PK (eds) Advances in X-ray analysis. Plenum Press, New York, pp 263–276
Condomines M, Hemond C, Allègre CJ (1988) U−Th−Ra radioactive disequilibria and magmatic processes. Earth Planet Sci Lett 90:243–262
Cox KG, Bell JD, Pankhurst RJ (1979) The interpretation of igneous rocks. Allen and Unwin, London, pp 450
Davidson JP (1987) Crustal contamination versus subduction zone enrichment: examples from the Lesser Antilles and implications for mantle source compositions of island arc volcanic rocks. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 51:2185–2198
Davidson JP, Wolff JA (1989) On the origin of the Nb−Ta “anomaly” in arc magmas. Trans Am Geophys Union (EOS) 70:1387
DePaolo DJ, Johnson RW (1979) Magma genesis in the New Britain island arc: constraints from Nd and Sr isotopes and trace element patterns. Contrib Mineral Petrol 70:367–379
Dickinson WR (1975) Potash-depth (K-h) relations in continental margin and intra-ocean magmatic arcs. Geology 3:53–56
Ewart A, Hawkesworth CJ (1987) The Pleistocene-Recent Tonga-Kermadec arc lavas: interpretation of new isotopic and rare-earth data in terms of a depleted mantle source model. J Petrol 28:495–530
Fryer P, Ambos EL, Hussong DM (1985) Origin and emplacement of Mariana forearc seamounts. Geology 13:774–777
Gill JB (1981) Orogenic andesites and Plate Tectonics Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 358
Gill JB (1984) Sr−Nd−Pb isotopic evidence that both MORB and OIB sources contribute to oceanic island arc magmas in Fiji. Earth Planet Sci Lett 68:443–458
Gill JB, Gorton M (1973) A proposed geological and geochemical history of eastern Melanesia. In: Coleman PJ (ed) The Western Pacific Island Arcs, marginal seas, geochemistry. University of W Australia Press, pp 543–566
Gill JB, Morris JD, Johnson RW (1992) Timescale for producing the geochemical signature of island arc magmas: U−Th−Po and Be−B systematics in recent Papua New Guinea lavas. Geochim Cosmochim Acta (submitted)
Green DH (1972) Magmatic activity as the major process in the chemical evolution of the Earth's crust and mantle. Tectonophysics 13:47–71
Green DH (1973) Experimental studies on a model upper mantle composition at high pressure under water-saturated and water-undersaturated conditions. Earth Planet Sci Lett 19:37–53
Green TH (1981) Experimental evidence for the role of accessory phases in magma genesis. J Volcanol Geothermal Res 10:405–422
Hamelin B, Mahnes G, Albarede F, Allègre CJ (1985) Precise lead isotope measurements by the double spike technique: a reconsideration. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 49:173–182
Hamelin B, Dupré B, Allègre CJ (1985/86) Pb−Sr−Nd isotopic data of Indian Ocean ridges: new evidence of large scale mapping of mantle heterogeneities. Earth Planet Sci Lett 76:288–298
Harris PG (1957) Zone refining and the origin of potassic basalts. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 12:195–208
Hawkesworth CJ, Hergt JM, Ellam RM, McDermott F (1991a) Elemental fluxes associated with subduction related magmatism. Philos Trans R Soc London Series A 335:393–405
Hawkesworth CJ, Hergt JM, McDermott F, Ellam RM (1991b) Destructive margin magmatism and contributions from the mantle wedge and subducted crust. Aust J Earth Sci 38:577–594
Hedge CE, Knight RJ (1969) Lead and strontium isotopes in volcanic rocks from northern Honshu, Japan. Geochem J 3:15–24
Hergt JM, Hawkesworth CJ (1992) The Pb, Sr and Nd isotopic evolution of the Lau Basin. ODP Lau Basin Volume (submitted)
Hildreth W, Moorbath S (1988) Crustal contributions to arc magmatism in the Andes of central Chile. Contrib Mineral Petrol 98:455–489
Jakeš P, White AJR (1972) Major and trace element abundances in volcanic rocks of orogenic areas. Geol Soc Am Bull 83:29–40
Jezek P, Gill J, Whitford D, Duncan R (1979) Reconnaissance geochemistry of the Sangihe-Sulawesi volcanic arc, Indonesia. Trans Am Geophys Union (EOS) 61:400
Johnson RW (1977) Distribution and major element chemistry of late Cainozoic volcanoes at the southern margin of the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea. Aust Bur Miner Resour Rep 188
Johnson RW, Arculus RJ (1978) Volcanic rocks of the Witu Islands, Papua New Guinea: the origin of magmas above the deepest parts of the New Britain Benioff zone. Bull Volcanol 41:609–655
Johnson RW, Chappell BW (1979) Chemical analyses of rocks from the late Cainozoic volcanoes of north-central New Britain and the Witu Islands, Papua New Guinea. Aust Bur Miner Resour Rep 209
Kay RW (1980) Volcanic arc magmas: implications of a melting-mixing model for element recycling in the crust-upper mantle system. J Geol 88:497–522
Kelemen PB, Johnson KTM, Kinzler RJ, Irving AJ (1990) High field strength element depletions in arc basalts due to mantle-magma interactions. Nature 345:521–524
Klein EM, Langmuir CH, Zindler A, Staudigel H, Hamelin B (1988) Isotopic evidence of a mantle convection boundary at the Australian-Antarctic discordance. Nature 333:623–629
Marsh BD (1982) On the mechanics of igneous diapirism, stoping and zone melting. Am J Sci 282:808–855
McCulloch MT, Gamble JA (1991) Geochemical and geodynamical constraints on subduction zone magmatism. Earth Planet Sci Lett 102:358–374
McKenzie D, O'Nions RK (1991) Partial melt distributions from inversion of rare earth concentrations. J Petrol 32:1021–1091
Morris JD, Hart SR (1980) Transverse geochemical variations across the Aleutian arc: Cold Bay to Amak. Trans Am Geophys Union (EOS) 61:400
Morris JD, Hart SR (1983) Isotopic and incompatible element constraints on the genesis of island arc volcanics from Cold Bay and Amak Island, Aleutians, and implications for mantle structure. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 47:2015–2030
Morris JD, Leeman WP, Tera F (1990) The subducted component in island arc lavas: constraints from Be isotopes and B−Be systematics. Nature 344:31–36
Navon O, Stolper E (1987) Geochemical consequences of melt percolation: the upper mantle as a chromatographic column. J Geol 95:285–307
Page RW, Johnson RW (1974) Strontium isotope ratios of Quaternary volcanic rocks from Papua New Guinea. Lithos 7:91–100
Peacock SM (1990) Numerical simulation of subduction zone pressure-temperature-time paths: constraints on fluid production and arc magmatism. Philos Trans R Soc London A 335:341–353
Plank T, Langmuir H (1988) An evaluation of the global variations in the major element chemistry of arc basalts. Earth Planet Sci Lett 90:349–370
Ringwood AE (1990) Slab mantle interactions 3: petrogenesis of intraplate magmas and structure of the upper mantle. Chem Geol 82:187–207
Ryerson FJ, Watson EB (1987) Rutile saturation in magmas: implications for Ti−Nb−Ta depletion in island arc basalts. Earth Planet Sci Lett 86:225–239
Saunders AD, Tarney J, Weaver SD (1980) Transverse geochemical variation across the Antarctic Peninsula: implications for the genesis of calc-alkaline magmas. Earth Planet Sci Lett 46:344–360
Sigmarsson O, Condomines M, Morris JD, Harmon RS (1990) Uranium and10Be enrichments by fluids in Andean arc magmas. Nature 346:163–165
Spiegelman M, McKenzie D (1987) Simple 2-D models for melt extraction at mid-ocean ridges and island arcs. Earth Planet Sci Lett 83:137–152
Stern RJ, Morris J, Bloomer SH, Hawkins JW (1991) The source of the radiogenic component in convergent margin magmas: trace element and radiogenic isotope evidence from Eocene boninites, Mariana forearc. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 55:1467–1481
Stipp JJ (1968) The geochronology and petrogenesis of the Cenozoic volcanics of the North Island island, New Zealand. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra (unpublished)
Sun SS, McDonough WF (1989) Chemical and isotopic systematics of oceanic basalts: implications for mantle composition and processes. In: Saunders AD, Norry MJ (eds) Magmatism in the ocean basins. Geol Soc Spec Publ 42:313–345
Tatsumi Y (1989) Migration of fluid phases and genesis of basalt magmas in subduction zones. J Geophys Res 94:4697–4707
Taylor SR, Gorton M (1977) Geochemical application of spark-source mass spectrometry III: element sensitivity, precision and accuracy. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 41:1375–1380
Vukadinovic D, Nicholls IA (1989) The petrogenesis of island arc basalts from Gunung Slamet volcano, Indonesia: trace element and87Sr/86Sr constraints. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 53:2349–2363
White WM, Patchett PJ (1984) Hf−Nd−Sr isotopes and incompatible elements abundances in island arcs: implications for magma origins and crust-mantle evolution. Earth Planet Sci Lett 67:167–185
White WM, Hofmann AW, Puchelt H (1987) Isotope geochemistry of Pacific Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt. J Geophys Res 92:4881–4893
Whitford DJ, Nicholls IA, Taylor SR (1979) Spatial variations in the geochemistry of Quaternary lavas across the Sunda arc in Java and Bali. Contrib Mineral Petrol 70:341–356
Whitford DJ, White WM, Jezek PA (1981) Neodymium isotopic composition of Quaternary island arc lavas from Indonesia. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 45:989–995
Wilson M (1989) Igneous petrogenesis. Unwin Hyman Ltd, London
Woodhead JD (1989) Geochemistry of the Mariana arc (western Pacific): source composition and processes. Chem Geol 76:1–24
Woodhead JD, Johnson RW, Dunkley PN (1992) Arc reversal, sediment subduction and forearc volcanism: isotope and trace element geochemistry of volcanic rocks from the New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands. Geochim Cosmochim Acta (submitted)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Woodhead, J.D., Johnson, R.W. Isotopic and trace-element profiles across the New Britain island arc, Papua New Guinea. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 113, 479–491 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00698317
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00698317