Enriched back-arc basin basalts from the northern Mariana Through: Implications for the magmatic evolution of back-arc basins

The composition of basalts erupted at the earliest stages in the evolution of back-arc basin permit unique insights into the composition and structure of the sub-arc mantle. We report major and trace element chemical data and O-, Sr-, Nd-, and Pb-isotopic analyses for basalts recovered from four dredge hauls and one ALVIN dive in the northern Mariana Trough near 22deg N. The petrography and major element chemistry of these basalts (MTB-22) are similar to tholeiites from the widest part of the Trough, near 18deg N (MTB-18), except that MTB-22 have slightly more K2O and slightly less TiO2. The trace element data exhibit a very strong arc signature in MTB-22, including elevated K, Rb, Sr, Ba, and LREE contents; relatively low K/Ba and high Ba/La and Sr/Nd. The Sr- and Nd-isotopic data plot in a field displaced from that of MTB-18 towards Mariana arc lavas, and the Pb-isotopic composition of MTB-22 is indistinguishable from Mariana arc lavas and much more homogeneous than MTB-18. Mixing of 50-90% Mariana arc component with a MORB component is hypothesized. We cannot determine whether this resulted from physical mixing of arc mantle and MORB mantle, or whether the arc component is introduced by metasomatism of MORB-like mantle by fluids released from the subducted lithosphere. The strong arc signature in back-arc melts from the Mariana Trough at 22deg N, where the back-arc basin is narrow, supports general models for back-arc basin evolution whereby early back-arc basin basalts have a strong arc component which diminishes in importante relative to MORB as the back-arc basin widens. (orig.)