A common Pan-African Lithospheric Mantle (PALM) source for HIMU-like Pb-isotope signatures in circum-Mediterranean magmas

Isotopic compositions of widely distributed basaltic rocks of Europe and North Africa are clustered around a point that is displaced from modern MORB in 208Pb/204Pb vs. 206Pb/204Pb, pointing to the 'HIMU' component proposed by Zindler and Hart (1986). This observation was originally highlighted in an abstract by Cebria and Wilson (1995), who suggested that a reservoir of unknown origin exists in the convecting upper mantle of the Mediterranean and coin it the 'European asthenospheric reservoir' or EAR in order to distinguish it from the apparent influence of an additional 'lithospheric' component having a Sr-Nd isotope composition similar to continental crust that is observed in some, but not all, Cenozoic igneous rocks. While this study and most authors agree that the 'lithospheric' component in the model of Cebria and Wilson (1995) is crustal material associated with Cenozoic subduction, explanations for the origin of the HIMU-like EAR reservoir, however, are diverse, ranging from deep plumes to recently subducted slabs. These explanations are problematic. For example, neither plumes nor recent subduction are spatially broad enough to explain all of the EAR occurrences. Alternatively, we argue that both components (lithospheric and EAR) observed by Cebria and Wilson are lithospheric in origin. We propose that the origin of the HIMU-like Pb component is metasomatized sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM). Comparison with synthetic evolution models of a veined mantle show the HIMU-like composition of European Cenozoic igneous rocks can be generated after ~500 Ma (Pilet et al., 2011). Major and trace element compositions of the European alkalic-basalts are similar to experimental melts of amphibole-pyroxenite veins in peridotite (a common feature of the SCLM) (Médard et al., 2006). A likely candidate for a veined 500 Ma SCLM in this region is the 'Pan-African' age terrane that is currently widely distributed from England to the Sahara as well as on the conjugate margin of the Atlantic. Its distribution completely overlaps with the distribution of EAR rocks. We therefore propose that the previously termed European Asthenospheric Reservoir (EAR) is actually the Pan-African Lithospheric Mantle (PALM), which is a direct source of alkalic-basaltic melts. A mechanism for the generation of melts from an ancient, veined sub-continental lithospheric mantle is the advection of heat by melts generated in the asthenosphere as a result of extensional decompression which infiltrate or underplate the lithosphere, or alternatively heating by advection of hotter mantle such as by a plume. Cebria, J., and Wilson, M., 1995, Cenozoic mafic magmatism in Western/Central Europe: a common European asthenospheric reservoir: Terra Nova, v. 7, p. 162. Médard, E., Schmidt, M. W., Schiano, P., and Ottolini, L., 2006, Melting of Amphibole-bearing Wehrlites: an Experimental Study on the Origin of Ultra-calcic Nepheline-normative Melts: Journal of Petrology, v. 47, no. 3, p. 481-504. Pilet, S., Baker, M. B., Müntener, O., and Stolper, E. M., 2011, Monte Carlo simulations of metasomatic enrichment in the lithosphere and implications for the source of alkaline basalts: Journal of Petrology, v. 52, no. 7-8, p. 1415-1442. Zindler, A., and Hart, S., 1986, Chemical geodynamics: Annual review of earth and planetary sciences, v. 14, p. 493-571.