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Trace-element fractionation in plumes and the origin of HIMU mantle beneath the Cameroon line

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Abstract

The lavas of the Cameroon line display a lead isotope anomaly at the continent/ocean boundary which can be attributed to a fossil mantle plume, the diminishing lateral effects of which can be recognized as far as 400km to either side. The high 206Pb/204Pb ratio—characteristic of the mantle endmember known as 'HIMU'—seems to arise from U/Pb fractionation accompanying melt migration following emplacement of the plume in the upper mantle 125 Myr ago.

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Halliday, A., Davidson, J., Holden, P. et al. Trace-element fractionation in plumes and the origin of HIMU mantle beneath the Cameroon line. Nature 347, 523–528 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/347523a0

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