Evolution of deep mantle sourced carbonated melt in the mantle lithosphere

Deep sourced magmas play a key role in distribution of carbon in the Earth’s system. Oceanic hotspots rooted in deep mantle usually produce CO₂-rich magmas. However, the association of CO₂ with the origin of these magmas remains unclear. Here we report geochemical analyses of a suite of volcanic rocks from the Caroline Seamount Chain formed by the deep-rooted Caroline hotspot in the western Pacific. The most primitive magmas have depletion of SiO₂ and high field strength elements and enrichment of rare earth elements that are in concert with mantle-derived primary carbonated melts. The carbonated melts show compositional variations that indicate reactive evolution within the overlying mantle lithosphere and obtained depleted components from the lithospheric mantle. The carbonated melts were de-carbonated and modified to oceanic alkali basalts by precipitation of perovskite, apatite and ilmenite that significantly decreased the concentrations of rare earth elements and high field strength elements. These magmas experienced a stage of non-reactive fractional crystallization after the reactive evolution was completed. Thus, the carbonated melts would experience two stages, reactive and un-reactive, of evolution during their transport through in thick oceanic lithospheric mantle. We suggest that the mantle lithosphere plays a key role in de-carbonation and conversion of deep-sourced carbonated melts to alkali basalts. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91858206, 41876040).