Tracking Iceland Plume Motion Using Trace Element Geochemistry

The Greenland-Scotland Ridge (GSR) is a hotspot track built by interaction between the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and the Iceland mantle plume. Unlike most other hotspot tracks built by ridge-plume interaction, the GSR is 2 to 3 times wider than the plume conduit in the upper mantle. (This unusual wide morphology arises because Icelandic crust changes significantly in thickness within a few million years of accretion, probably mainly by viscous flow in the hot lower crust). The upshot is that the GSR cannot be compared directly with theoretical plume tracks from hotspot reference frame models. However, it is possible to track the position of the Iceland plume conduit using the trace element geochemistry of basaltic lavas. Away from the plume conduit, plate spreading drives upwelling of mantle through the melting region. Above the plume conduit, plume-driven flow forces mantle through the lower part of the melting region faster than the plate-driven upwelling rate. The average depth of melting is therefore greater directly above the plume conduit than away from the plume conduit, and this difference in average melting depth means that melts generated directly above the plume conduit are relatively enriched in incompatible trace elements. Joint modelling of trace element compositions and crustal thickness can also be used to establish location of melting relative to the plume conduit. To date, these concepts have been used only to explain compositional variations in modern (post-glacial) Icelandic lavas; in this study we show that the same concepts can be applied to map the location of the plume conduit throughout the onshore Icelandic geological record (since the middle Miocene, c. 16 Ma). The plume track thus determined is in reasonable agreement with theoretical tracks calculated under the assumption that the Iceland Plume has remained fixed relative to other Indo-Atlantic hotspots. This result also supports the idea that episodic relocations of the onshore part of the MAR act to maintain the spreading axis above the plume conduit.