Evolution of the African Mantle Domain and its enriched signal: perspective from pre-200 Ma ophiolites

Earth’s mantle is highly heterogeneous, with mantle-derived rocks sampling depleted and enriched domains both in intraplate settings and along spreading ridges. The most notorious isotopic anomaly is the DUPAL anomaly, where an overall strong recycled isotopic signature occurs. Studies on Tethyan and Paleo-Tethyan ophiolites have shown the persistence of “DUPAL signature” in those oceans, which paleogeographic reconstructions place on approximately the same position as the present-day Indian Ocean and thus argue for a long-lived “DUPAL signature” in the mantle. The origin of the DUPAL anomaly is controversial, with many studies pointing to it being a primordial feature. More recently, however, it has been shown that plume products in the African Mantle Domain (AMD), of which the DUPAL anomaly region is a part of, generally bear a more enriched signal than plume-related rocks in the Pacific Mantle Domain. This observation has been hypothesized to be related to the formation of the Pangea supercontinent above the present-day AMD, and therefore offering a geodynamic scenario capable of explaining the origin of the enriched isotopic signature of the AMD. However, present-day ocean crust record is limited in time, extending to 200 Ma at maximum, younger than the formation of Pangea at ca. 320 Ma. To investigate the oceanic record of mantle enrichment further back in time and test the influence of supercontinent cycle on the composition of the AMD, it is necessary to utilise preserved oceanic terranes in orogenic belts. In this study we compiled isotopic data from preserved oceanic terranes related both to the formation of the AMD, starting from the assembly of Gondwana till the duration of Pangea, including that of the Mozambique, Adamastor, Goias-Pharusian, Iapetus, Rheic, Qilian-Shangdan, Paleo-Tethys, Meso-Tethys and Neo-Tethys paleo-oceans. Neodymium isotopic data is the most widely available for these ophiolites. The Nd isotopic data indicates a progressively more depleted signal before Gondwana formation until it reaches a maximum and stays relatively stable until shortly after Pangea break-up, where noticeable decrease in depletion occurs. Lead isotopic data is less readily available, existing data nevertheless allow to observe an increase in Th/U ratio during Gondwana formation. Taken together, these observations indicate an increase in recycled continental components in the mantle source of the AMD ophiolites. We envisage this to be evidence for mantle enrichment during the formation of Gondwana and Pangea within the AMD. New isotopic analyses are still needed to paint a clearer picture of the interplay between the supercontinent cycle and mantle geochemistry.