A Precious Metal Perspective on Crust to Core Interaction in Intraplate Magmas

James Day, University of California, San Diego

Intraplate magmas, including those that form ocean island basalts, are considered probes for mantle composition. A key observation has been that some intraplate settings have radiogenic 186Os/188Os signatures, implying a long-term high time-integrated Pt/Os ratio in their source. This signature has been variously attributed to core-mantle interactions or alternative high Pt/Os sulfide reservoirs in Earth's mantle. In this talk, Day will show that some intraplate magmas can also inherit a radiogenic 186Os/188Os signature from crustal contamination processes. Day will then examine how 186Os/188Os variations in ocean island basalts compare with 'mantle flavors' and the consequences such data have for understanding potential core-mantle interaction processes, and early Earth heterogeneity.

Read more about Day's work on his faculty profile.