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Science 11 August 1995:
Vol. 269. no. 5225, pp. 822 - 825
DOI: 10.1126/science.269.5225.822
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Articles

High-3He Plume Origin and Temporal-Spatial Evolution of the Siberian Flood Basalts

Asish R. Basu 1, Robert J. Poreda 1, Paul R. Renne 2, Friedrich Teichmann 1, Yurii R. Vasiliev 3, Nikolai V. Sobolev 3, and Brent D. Turrin 4

1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
2 Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709-1211, USA.
3 Institute of Mineralogy and Petrology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia
4 U.S. Geological Survey, Mailstop 901, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA, and Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709-1211, USA.

An olivine nephelinite from the lower part of a thick alkalic ultrabasic and mafic sequence of volcanic rocks of the northeastern part of the Siberian flood basalt province (SFBP) yielded a 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of 253.3 ± 2.6 million years, distinctly older than the main tholeiitic pulse of the SFBP at 250.0 million years. Olivine phenocrysts of this rock showed 3He/4He ratios up to 12.7 times the atmospheric ratio; these values suggest a lower mantle plume origin. The neodymium and strontium isotopes, rare earth element concentration patterns, and cerium/lead ratios of the associated rocks were also consistent with their derivation from a near-chondritic, primitive plume. Geochemical data from the 250-million-year-old volcanic rocks higher up in the sequence indicate interaction of this high-3He SFBP plume with a suboceanic-type upper mantle beneath Siberia.

Submitted on March 31, 1995
Accepted on June 20, 1995


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