Geochemical tracing of Pacific-to-Atlantic upper-mantle flow through the Drake passage

The Earth's convecting upper mantle can be viewed as comprising three main reservoirs, beneath the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Because of the uneven global distribution and migration of ridges and subduction zones, t he surface area of the Pacific reservoir is at present contracting at about 0.6 km(2) yr(-1), while the Atlantic and Indian reservoirs are growing at about 0.45 km(2) yr(-1) and 0.15 km(2) yr(-1), respectively(1,2). Garfunkel (1) and others have argued that there must accordingly be net mantle flow f rom the Pacific to the Atlantic and Indian reservoirs (in order to maintain mass balance), and Alvarez(2) further predicted that this flow should be r estricted to the few parts of the Pacific rim (here termed 'gateways') wher e there are no continental roots or subduction zones that might act as barr iers to shallow mantle flow. The main Pacific gateways are, according to Al varez(2,3), the southeast Indian Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Drake pas sage. Here we report geochemical data which confirm that there has been som e outflow of Pacific mantle into the Drake passage-but probably in response to regional tectonic constraints, rather than global mass-balance requirem ents. We also show that a mantle domain boundary, equivalent to the Austral ian-Antarctic discordance, must lie between the Drake passage and the east Scotia Sea.