Tracing hydrous eclogite melts in the source of sanukitoids

Sanukitoids are unique Archean and early Proterozoic igneous rocks. They contain high amounts of Mg, Ni and Cr, showing they are mantle-derived melts, while they are also enriched in Sr and Ba and have relatively high K contents, requiring the involvement of an incompatible element-enriched component likely derived from recycled crustal material. The appearance of sanukitoids in the geological record coincides with a shift in continental crust composition, and both events have been linked to a change in geodynamic processes on Earth. However, uncertainties remain about sanukitoid petrogenesis, in particular whether their mantle source was metasomatised by a metabasite-derived silicate melt or by an aqueous fluid. Titanium (Ti) stable isotopes can trace magmatic processes where silicate melts are in equilibrium with Fe-Ti oxides and amphibole but are insensitive to fluid-driven processes, making them a suitable tool to investigate not only the formation of sanukitoid magmas but also their subsequent evolution. Here we present Ti isotope data (δ⁴⁹Ti) for a series of Neoarchean sanukitoids from the Yilgarn Craton that continuously covers the full compositional range of sanukitoids. These are complemented by Mesoarchean sanukitoids and Paleoarchean “sanukitoid-like” rocks from the Pilbara Craton, and by Paleoproterozoic sanukitoids from the São Francisco Craton/Paleocontinent. In addition, we analysed Paleozoic high Ba-Sr granite suites from Scotland, which are proposed to be Phanerozoic sanukitoid analogues.

Evolved sanukitoids, which formed after Fe-Ti oxide saturation, show a more muted δ⁴⁹Ti increase during differentiation compared to currently analysed modern calc-alkaline suites. This difference is best explained by removal of significant proportions of Ti during sanukitoid differentiation by magmatic hornblende, which fractionates Ti isotopes less strongly than Fe-Ti oxides. Combined with early oxide saturation at high Mg#, this suggests that sanukitoid parental magmas had H₂O contents and fO₂ at least as high as modern arc magmas. Primitive (pre-oxide saturation) sanukitoids, however, have significantly higher δ⁴⁹Ti (0.11–0.20‰) than modern arc basalts, the depleted mantle and the bulk silicate Earth (BSE). Their elevated δ⁴⁹Ti values cannot be explained by aqueous fluids alone in their mantle source, and instead require the involvement of a hydrous eclogite melt component formed in equilibrium with residual rutile. We favour generation of this metasomatic melt by fluid-fluxed eclogite partial melting, demonstrating that both metabasite melts and aqueous fluids are important for sanukitoid formation. The Ti isotope compositions of Archean and Paleoproterozoic sanukitoids therefore favour formation of the sanukitoid mantle source by a subduction-like process at least ∼2.7 Ga.