Heavy magnesium isotopic compositions of basalts erupted during arc inception: Implications for the mantle source underlying the nascent Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc

Basalts formed during the early development of an arc are usually buried, but they record critical information relating to the mantle source of the overriding plate prior to the addition of subducting slab components. Basalts recovered at Site U1438 of International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 351, in the Amami Sankaku Basin (ASB), formed during the transition from forearc basalt (FAB) and boninite eruptions to stratovolcano developments in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) arc. In this study, we present magnesium (Mg) isotopic data (δ²⁶Mg) for the ASB basalt core samples, formed at arc inception in the absence of down-going slab components, and report the implications of these data for the characteristics of the mantle sources underlying the proto-IBM arc. The δ²⁶Mg values of the ASB basalts range from −0.21‰ to +0.08‰, with an average value of −0.13 ± 0.07‰. These values are systematically higher than those of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) (−0.25 ± 0.06‰). No obvious effects of post-eruptive alteration, fractional crystallization, partial melting, or subduction component addition can be identified in the Mg isotopic compositions either of the ASB basalts or their mantle source, given the absence of correlations between the δ²⁶Mg values and the proxies of these processes (e.g., K/Nb, Nb/Zr, Ba/La, Nb/Y, etc.). We conclude that the high δ²⁶Mg values of the ASB basalts are inherited from their mantle source that was enriched in heavy Mg isotopes. Melting of an ultra-depleted, refractory spinel peridotite source containing talc-bearing serpentinite components can explain the origin of the heavy Mg isotopic compositions in the ASB basalts. The presence of water-rich serpentinite components in the mantle provides a new perspective on how a refractory mantle source can undergo partial melting at temperatures and pressures similar to the formation of MORBs without the influence of subducted materials, which has important implications for the initiation of plate subduction. Furthermore, the Mg isotopic contributions of subducted additions and mantle source materials should be carefully discussed in future studies due to the heterogeneity of Mg isotopes in the mantle.