Re-Os Isotope and HSE Abundance Systematics of the 2.9 Ga Komatiites and Basalts from the Sumozero-Kenozero Greenstone Belt, SE Fennoscandian Shield: Implications for the Mixing Rates of the Mantle

Abstract

Rhenium-Os isotope and highly siderophile element (HSE, including Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Pt, and Pd) abundance systematics of Archean komatiites can be used to estimate the stirring rates of the mantle for the HSE and the timing of homogenization of late accreted materials within the mantle. In this study, we report Re-Os isotope and HSE abundance data for ~2.9 Ga komatiites and basalts from the Sumozero-Kenozero greenstone belt in the SE Fennoscandian Shield. The lavas are characterized by excellent preservation of the primary textural, chemical, and Re-Os isotope characteristics. The Re-Os isotopic data for spinifex-textured and cumulate komatiite and massive basalt samples from the lowermost sequences define a precise 10-point isochron (MSWD = 2.6) with an age of 2904 ± 18 Ma and an initial ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.10758 ± 18 (γ¹⁸⁷Os(2904) = +0.45 ± 0.17). This is the first direct age determination for the Sumozero-Kenozero lower komatiite-basalt sequences. Our modeling indicates that the mantle source of the komatiites and basalts evolved with a time-integrated ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.418 ± 6. This ratio is well within the uncertainty of the bulk chondritic average ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os = 0.410 ± 51 (2SD), also consistent with the chondritic evolution of the majority of komatiite mantle sources observed globally. The mantle source of the Sumozero-Kenozero komatiites has been calculated to contain the total HSE abundances of 58 ± 7% of those in the estimates for modern Bulk Silicate Earth (BSE). This estimate is in the middle of the range for other late Archean and Proterozoic komatiite systems. Using the estimated HSE abundances in the sources of komatiite systems as a function of their ages and ISOPLOT regression analysis, we calculated the average time in the past by which late accreted materials have been completely homogenized within the mantle to be 2.48 ± 0.23 Ga. These data require that the residence times of the late accreted planetesimals within the mantle, before complete homogenization, were on average 1.92 ± 0.23 Ga. This estimate represents a constraint on the average mixing rates of the mantle in terms of the HSE abundances in the Hadean and the Archean.