Noble Gas Systematics in MORBs and OIBs and Reconstitution of the Time-Evolution of Mantle Composition for Heavy Noble Gases: the Role of Subduction of Atmospheric Noble Gases.

Abstract:

Chondrites are considered as the building rocks of the Earth as they represent remnants of the protoplanetary accretion stage. Among all chondritic classes, heavy noble gases are mainly concentrated in phase Q [1] hence it represents a likely primordial composition of the Earth. This is supported by the observation of [2] who detected this peculiar composition in CO₂ well gases thanks to Kr isotopes. As CO₂ well gases are supposed to derive from the same reservoir as MORBs [3], this signature should be observed in MORBs and OIBs as well. In this perspective, we will present analyses performed by mass spectrometry of MORBs and OIBs samples for all noble gases. Preliminary results are quite promising as the same trend seems to appear into OIB and MORB data for Kr isotopes.

However, our analyses show that this primordial composition isn’t displayed for stable isotopes of Xe as already observed by [4-5] and remains a trace in the mantle signature, which appears at first sight atmospheric. We thus propose that subduction of atmospheric noble gases has gradually covered this meteoritic imprint. In order to test this scenario, we will present a modelling performed for Ar and Xe in three distinct reservoirs: mantle, atmosphere and continental crust. The mantle is considered as homogenized by convection and similar to the MORB reservoir. Its degasing is divided in two stages: a massive early degasing followed by a decreasing one describing the cooling of the Earth’s interior. Extraction of parent elements from the mantle to the continental crust is also taken into account as well as distillation of atmospheric Xe needed to explain the missing Xe paradox and the present Xe isotopic signature of the atmosphere. Finally, subduction of noble gases is assimilated to simple incorporation into the mantle of elementally fractionated air, enriched in heavy noble gases as supported by [6]. Thus, we show that starting with a chondritic composition, the present mantle composition can be reproduced and that subduction plays a major role as it explains the nearly atmospheric signature of the mantle for Xe stable isotopes and considerably lowers the radiogenic isotopic ratios.

[1] Huss et al., GCA (1996) [2] Holland et al., Sci. (2009) [3] Staudacher, Nat. (1987) [4] Kunz et al., Sci. (1998) [5] Trieloff et al., Sci. (2000) [6] Kendrick et al., Nat. Geo. (2011)