Many, and perhaps all, oceanic island basalts (OIB) clearly contain a component of crustal materials that have been returned to the mantle through subduction or other processes. One of the first recycled materials to be identified as a potential source of OIB was mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB), and this was later fine-tuned as having a long time-integrated (b.y.) high U/Pb ratio or high μ (HIMU) and producing OIB with the most radiogenic Pb isotopic ratios (206Pb/204Pb>20). However, it is becoming more evident that the compositional connection between subducted MORB and HIMU basalts is problematic. As an alternative hypothesis, a small amount (a few %) of recycled Archaean marine carbonates (primarily CaCO3) is proposed to be the main source of the distinct 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic and major-trace element compositions of classic HIMU and post-Archaean marine carbonates for younger HIMU or the so-called FOZO mantle source. As an extension of the hypothesis, a conceptual model that combines the separate evolutionary histories of ancient oceanic lithosphere, which is the source of OIB, and upper mantle, which is the source of MORB, is also proposed. The model claims that FOZO mainly consists of the lithospheric mantle portion of the ancient metamorphosed oceanic slabs that have accumulated in the deep mantle. Such an ultramafic source is geochemically depleted due to prior extraction of basaltic melt plus removal of the enriched subduction component from the slab through dehydration and metamorphic processes. Combined with other proposed models in the literature, the conceptual model can provide reasonable solutions for the 208Pb/204Pb, 143Nd/144Nd, 176Hf/177Hf, and 3He/4He isotopic paradoxes or complexities of oceanic lavas. Although these simultaneous solutions for individual paradoxes are qualitative and non-unique, these are unified under a single, marine carbonate recycling hypothesis.

This paper presents a review of available petrological, geochonological and geochemical data for late Mesozoic to Recent igneous rocks in the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent regions and a discussion of their petrogeneses and tectonic implications. The integration of these data with available geophysical and other geologic information led to the following tectono-magmatic model for the evolution of the SCS region. The geochemical characteristics of late Mesozoic granitic rocks in the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB), micro-blocks in the SCS, the offshore continental shelf and Dalat zone in southern Vietnam, and the Schwaner Mountains in West Kalimantan, Borneo indicate that these are mainly I-type granites plus a small amount of S-type granites in the PRMB. These granitoids were formed in a continental arc tectonic setting, consistent with the ideas proposed by Holloway (1982) and Taylor and Hayes (1980, 1983), that there existed an Andean-type volcanic arc during later Mesozoic era in the SCS region. The geochonological and geochemical characteristics of the volcanics indicate an early period of bimodal volcanism (60-43. Ma or 32. Ma) at the northern margin of the SCS, followed by a period of relatively passive style volcanism during Cenozoic seafloor spreading (37 or 30-16. Ma) within the SCS, and post-spreading volcanism (tholeiitic series at 17-8. Ma, followed by alkali series from 8. Ma to present) in the entire SCS region. The geodynamic setting of the earlier volcanics was an extensional regime, which resulted from the collision between India and Eurasian plates since the earliest Cenozoic, and that of the post-spreading volcanics may be related to mantle plume magmatism in Hainan Island. In addition, the nascent Hainan plume may have played a significant role in the extension along the northern margin and seafloor spreading in the SCS. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

It has been suggested that the Dupal isotopic anomaly in the mantle can be traced in the Paleozoic ophiolites from the Neo- and Paleo-Tethyan Ocean (275-350Ma). The Karamaili ophiolite (KO) and Dalabute ophiolite (DO) in the eastern and western corners, respectively, of the Junggar basin in NW China represent remnants of the relatively older (>350Ma) Paleo-Asian Ocean (PAO) crust. Thus, these ophiolites can provide additional constraints on the long-term composition and evolution of the Paleozoic suboceanic mantle. We present new major-trace element and Sr, Nd and high-precision Pb isotope data for the basalts, gabbros and a plagioclase separate from the KO and DO. Our results indicate that the PAO crust indeed has a Dupal-like isotopic signature. In detail, all samples have relatively low εNd(t) and high 208Pb/204Pb(t) for given 206Pb/204Pb(t) ratios (i.e., positive δ8/4 values), similar to the Dupal isotopic characteristics of Indian Ocean mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB). The trace element signature of DO mafic rocks is similar to that of normal- and enriched-MORB whereas that of the KO is transitional between MORB and arc basalt. Therefore, the DO mantle domain reflects the PAO asthenosphere and the KO domain additionally shows the influence of the subduction process. Geochemical modeling using Th/Nd as well as Nd and Pb isotopic ratios indicates that up to 2% subduction component had been added to a depleted Indian MORB-type mantle to produce the bulk of KO rocks. The subduction component in the KO rocks consisted of variable proportions of ≤1% partial melt of unradiogenic sediment similar to modern Izu-Bonin trench sediment and hydrous fluid dehydrated from the subducted altered oceanic crust. The Devonian asthenospheric mantle beneath the southern PAO is isotopically heterogeneous, but lends support to the idea that the Dupal isotopic anomaly existed prior to the opening of the Indian Ocean. Finally, plate tectonic reconstruction indicates that the anomaly was present in the Neo- and Paleo-Tethyan oceans in the southern hemisphere and in the southern part of PAO in the northern hemisphere during the late Paleozoic. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Meter-scale AUV bathymetric mapping and ROV sampling of the entire 47 km-long Alarcon Rise between the Pescadero and Tamayo transforms show that the shallowest inflated portion of the segment hosts all four active hydrothermal vent fields and the youngest, hottest, and highest effusion rate lava flows. This shallowest inflated part is located ∼1/3 of the way between the Tamayo and Pescadero transforms and is paved by a 16 km2 channelized flow that erupted from 9 km of en echelon fissures and is larger than historic flows on the East Pacific Rise or on the Gorda and Juan de Fuca Ridges. Starting ∼5 km south of the Pescadero transform, 6.5 km of the Alarcon Rise is characterized by faulted ridges and domes of fractionated lavas ranging from basaltic andesite to rhyolite with up to 77.3 wt % SiO2. These are the first known rhyolites from the submarine global mid-ocean ridge system. Silicic lavas range from >11.7 ka, to as young as 1.1 ka. A basalt-to-basaltic andesite sequence and an andesite-to-dacite-to-rhyolite sequence are consistent with crystal fractionation but some intermediate basaltic andesite and andesite formed by mixing basalt with dacite or rhyolite. Magmatism occurred along the bounding Tamayo and Pescadero transforms as extensive channelized flows. The flows erupted from ring faults surrounding uplifted sediment hills inferred to overlie sills. The transforms are transtensional to accommodate magma migration from the adjacent Alarcon Rise.