Upper and lower crust recycling in the source of CAMP basaltic dykes from southeastern North America

Abstract

The densest dykes swarm of the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) occur in southeastern North America (SENA) and were intruded between 202 and 195 Ma during Pangea break-up. New combined geochemical data (major and trace elements, Sr–Nd–Pb–Os isotopes) constrain the mantle source of these magmatic bodies and their evolution path. While Sr–Nd isotopic compositions for SENA rocks (87Sr/86Sr200Ma 0.70438–0.70880 and 143Nd/144Nd200Ma 0.51251–0.51204) fall within the low-Ti CAMP field, Pb–Pb isotopes (206Pb/204Pb200Ma 17.46–18.85, 207Pb/204Pb200Ma 15.54–15.65, 208Pb/204Pb200Ma 37.47–38.76) are peculiar to this area of the CAMP and cover a considerable span of compositions, especially in 206Pb/204Pb200Ma. Given the generally unradiogenic Os isotopic compositions (187Os/188Os200Ma 0.127–0.144) observed and the lack of correlation between these and other geochemical markers, crustal contamination during the evolution of SENA dykes must have been limited (less than 10%). Thus the isotopic variation is interpreted to reside primarily within the mantle source.These observations, coupled with typical continental signatures in trace elements (positive anomaly in Pb and negative anomalies in Ti and Nb), require another means of conveying a continental flavor to these magmas, which is here hypothesized to be the shallow recycling within the upper mantle of subducted lower and upper crustal materials. Pseudo-ternary mixing models show that a maximum of 10% recycled crust is enough to explain their trace element patterns as well as their isotopic heterogeneity. Looking at the larger picture of the origin of the CAMP, the thermal contribution of a mantle plume cannot be ruled out due to the relatively high mantle potential temperatures (1430–1480 °C) calculated for high-Fo SENA olivines. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the chemical involvement of a mantle plume is negligible (less than 5%) if either a C- or an EM-flavored plume is considered. Rather, the possibility of a PREMA-flavored mantle plume, enriched by 5–20% recycled crustal material, remains a possible, though less plausible, source for these tholeiites.