Provenance of sediments during subduction of Palaeotethys: Detrital zircon ages and olistolith analysis in Palaeozoic sediments from Chios Island, Greece
Abstract Detrital zircon geochronology and analysis of fossiliferous olistoliths from Chios Island, Greece, are used here to constrain terrane accretion processes and the provenance of crustal sources for sediments during the subduction of (a branch of) the Palaeotethys Ocean. U/Pb ages obtained by ion microprobe (SHRIMP-II) analyses of detrital zircons from a Carboniferous greywacke belonging to the tectonostratigraphic Lower Unit of Chios gave major age groups of 2150–1890 Ma, 640–540 Ma, 505–475 Ma and 365–322 Ma. Detrital zircons from a Permian–Triassic sandstone yielded prominent age clusters of 2200–1840 Ma, 1100–910 Ma, 625–560 Ma and 385–370 Ma. The lack of zircon ages between 1.8 a…
Traces of ancient mafic layers in the Tethys oceanic mantle
Abstract Oceanic basalts are formed by melting of a chemically and isotopically heterogeneous mantle source. The oceanic mantle probably resembles a marble cake containing layers of mafic rock – perhaps recycled ocean crust – stored in the mantle for >1 billion years. Many questions about the nature and distribution of these mantle heterogeneities remain. Here we show that lithological and isotopic traces of ancient mafic layers can still be seen in mantle rocks that have melted to form oceanic crust at a spreading centre in the Tethys Ocean. We have found centimetre-scale heterogeneity in initial osmium isotope ratios in mantle rocks from the Pindos Ophiolite. Deformed pyroxenite layers ha…