Two mantle plumes beneath the east African rift system: Sr, Nd and Pb isotope evidence from Kenya Rift basalts

Major and trace element and radiogenic isotope ratios (Sr, Nd and Pb) are p resented for a suite of Neogene to Recent basalts (MgO > 4 wt%) from the ax ial regions of the Kenya Rift. Samples have compositions ranging from hyper sthenenormative basalt through alkali basalt to basanite and are a subset o f a larger database in which compositions extend to nephelinite. A broadly negative correlation between Zr/Nb (< 2-7) and Ce/Y (1-8) indicates derivat ion from a garnet-bearing mantle source region as a result of < 3% melting. Isotope ratios in basalts from the axial regions of the Kenya Rift have Nd -143/Nd-144 = 0.51300 to 0.51255, Sr-87/Sr-86 0.7030 to 0.7055 and Pb-206/P b-204 < 18 to > 20, broadly similar to values from OIB. The Kenya Rift cuts through basement of different ages and aspects of the composition of mafic magmas reflect the anisotropy of the underlying lithosphere, Specifically, those basalts from that part of the rift underlain by the Tanzanian craton (TC) have higher Ce/Y and lower Zr/Nb ratios than those erupted through th e Panafrican Mozambique belt (MB) implying an origin either at greater dept h or from a more trace element-enriched source region. Samples erupted thro ugh the zone of reactivated craton margin (RCM) share the characteristics o f mafic lavas from both the craton and the mobile belt. MB samples have Nd- 143/Nd-144 = 0.5130-0.5127, Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.7030-0.7035 and Pb-206/Pb-204 = 18.3-19.8, defining a steep negative trend on the Nd-Sr diagram and plotti ng close to the NHRL on conventional Pb isotope diagrams. By contrast TC an d RCM samples have Nd-143/Nd-144 = 0.5124-0.51275, Sr-87/Sr-86 0.7035-0.705 6 and Pb-206/Pb-204 = 17.6-21.2, defining flat-lying arrays on Nd-Sr plots and a much greater scatter and spread on Pb isotope diagrams, with many ana lyses plotting above the NHRL. Both groups of analyses trend towards a comm on end member on a plot of Nd-143/Nd-144 against Sr-87/Sr-86, at Nd-143/Nd- 144 similar to 0.51275 and Sr-87/Sr-86 similar to 0.7035. These values are suggested to reflect the isotopic characteristics of the sub-lithospheric K enyan mantle, inferred to be the Kenya mantle plume. Comparison with data f rom Afar suggest that the Kenya plume is distinct from the Afar plume, impl ying that the east African Rift is underlain by at least two distinct mantl e plumes. Eocene and Oligocene basalts from southern Ethiopia bear a closer resemblance to the Kenyan basalts than to those from Afar and the Ethiopia n plateau, suggesting that the Kenya plume has been active for at least 45 Ma. Migration of magmatism from southern Ethiopia southwards is consistent with the northeastward migration of the African plate over the Kenya plume over the past 50 My. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.