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Nd, Pb, and Sr isotope composition of Late Mesozoic to Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in NE-Africa (Sudan, Egypt): high-μ signatures from the mantle lithosphere

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Abstract

The isotopic composition of mafic small-volume intra-plate magmatism constrains the compositions of the sub-continental mantle sources. The Nd, Pb, and Sr isotope signatures of widespread late Mesozoic to Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in NE Africa (Sudan, South Egypt) are surprisingly uniform and indicate the presence of a high-μ (μ = 238U/204Pb) source in the mantle. The rocks are characterized by small ranges in the initial isotopic composition of Nd, Pb, and Sr and most samples fall within ε Nd ca. 3–6, 206Pb/204Pb ca. 19.5–20.5, 207Pb/204Pb ca. 15.63–15.73, 208Pb/204Pb ca. 39–40 and 87Sr/86Sr ca. 0.7028–0.7034. We interpret this reservoir as lithospheric mantle that formed beneath the Pan-African orogens and magmatic arcs from asthenospheric mantle, which was enriched in trace elements (U, Th, and light REE). Combining our new data set with published data of intra-plate magmatic rocks from the Arabian plate indicates two compositionally different domains of lithospheric mantle in NE-Africa–Arabia. The two domains are spatially related to the subdivision of the Pan-African orogen into a western section dominated by reworked cratonic basement (NE-Africa; high-μ lithospheric mantle) and an eastern section dominated by juvenile Pan-African basement (easternmost NE-Africa and Arabia; moderate μ lithospheric mantle). The compositions of the Pan-African lithospheric mantle and the MORB-type mantle of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden spreading centers could explain the Nd–Pb-Sr isotopic compositions of the most pristine Afar flood basalts in Yemen and Ethiopia by mixtures of the isotopic composition of regional lithospheric and asthenospheric sources.

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Acknowledgments

Cathrin Schulz and Birgit Zander are thanked for their help with the analytical work at GFZ-Potsdam. Samples were collected between 1978 and 1995 in the frame of the research project SFB 69, and we thank G. Steiner, T. Denkler, B. El Hur, E. Klitzsch and C. Breitkreuz for their help in sampling. The logistical help of GRAS at Khartoum is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks to U. Harms for providing samples for Pb isotope analyses of the basement and to Klaus Wemmer, GZG Universität Göttingen, for the K–Ar age determinations. Rosemarie Geffe, TU-Berlin is thanked for improving the presentation of the Figures. We thank Tanya Furman, David W. Peate, and Andreas Stracke for their thorough reviews, which considerably improved the paper and Jochen Hoefs for the editorial handling. The work was financed by DFG grant FR 557/20-1.

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  1. GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Friedrich Lucassen, Rolf L. Romer & Peter Dulski

  2. Fachgebiet Mineralogie-Petrologie, Technische Universität Berlin, Sekr. ACK 9, Ackerstr. 71-76, 13355, Berlin, Germany

    Friedrich Lucassen, Gerhard Franz & Dieter Pudlo

  3. Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences, Institute of Earth Sciences, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Burgweg 11, 07749, Jena, Germany

    Dieter Pudlo

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Lucassen, F., Franz, G., Romer, R.L. et al. Nd, Pb, and Sr isotope composition of Late Mesozoic to Quaternary intra-plate magmatism in NE-Africa (Sudan, Egypt): high-μ signatures from the mantle lithosphere. Contrib Mineral Petrol 156, 765–784 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-008-0314-0

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