EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR) -- Turner et al. 1996

High precision TIMS Th-230/Th-232 isotope ratios are presented from a suite of lavas which span the length of the Lesser Antilles island are. Compositions vary from low K, tholeiitic lavas with low Sr-87/Sr-86 in the north, to high K, calc-alkaline to alkalic lavas with higher Sr-87/Sr-86 in the south. The northern lavas are characterised by (Th-230/U-238) < 1 whereas those from the south tend towards secular equilibrium and occasionally have (Th-230/U-238) > 1. A three-component model is required for magma genesis in the Lesser Antilles. Sediments from the subducting slab melt and variably enrich the mantle wedge, while the subducting oceanic crust dehydrates, releasing fluids enriched in U, Ba, Sr and K, but with negligible Th and low Sr-87/Sr-86, which promote partial melting in the wedge. Ta/Zr increases with Sr-87/Sr-86 southwards along the are and this is inferred to reflect increasing enrichment of the mantle wedge through the addition of partial melts of subducted sediment. Mass balance calculations are consistent with a relatively constant fluid flux (except for U) and little variation in the degree of partial melting (10-15%) along the are, and they suggest that the sediment contribution to the are lavas increases from similar to 2% in the north to similar to 15% in the south. In the northern parts of the are, the addition of U by these fluids overprints any increases in Th/U that might have been caused by partial melting, and results in lavas with (Th-230/U-238) < 1. Further south, the fluid signature is swamped by partial melts of the subducted sediments, and the (Th-230/U-238) ratios tend towards 1. Assuming that (Th-230/U-238) ratios < 1 reflect the preferential mobility of U in aqueous fluids, the bulk of the LIL element abundances, and the elevated Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios in the calc-alkaline and alkalic lavas, were not transported by subduction zone fluids. A three-component mixing model is developed to calculate (Th-230/Th-232) ratios at the time of formation of the measured U/Th. The time required for radioactive decay from these calculated ratios to the measured (Th-230/Th-232) ratios provides an upper limit on the transport time for the relatively high U/Th fluid component through the wedge of similar to 90000 yr. If similar to 50000 yr U-Th isochrons from Soufriere on St. Vincent reflect typical magma chamber residence times for this island are, this leaves similar to 40000 yr for transport from the slab to the crust. Such constraints require ascent rates > 1 m yr(-1), which imply channelled flow through the mantle wedge.