Recycling in the subduction factory: Archaean to Permian zircons in the oceanic Cretaceous Caribbean island-arc (Hispaniola)

Abstract Little mineralogical evidence is left of the recycling of continental and oceanic crust into the mantle at subduction zones. Zircon, because of its exceptional robustness, is probably the only surviving phase and the best mineral tracer of this global-scale process. This article combines new in-situ U-Pb dating and O and Hf isotope analyses on Cretaceous (co-magmatic) and pre-Cretaceous (inherited) zircons separated from Albian-Aptian arc-related igneous rocks from the Dominican Republic. The O and Hf systematics of Cretaceous zircons reflect derivation from predominantly juvenile sources and variable mixing with evolved melts, as expected for an oceanic island-arc. Inherited zirco…