Most recent workers attribute the main features of island arc basalt geochemistry to variable contributions of at least two source components. The major source appears to be the periodtitic wedge of upper mantle overlying the subducted slab, but the nature of the second component and the processes by which the sources become mixed during genesis of arc magmas are in dispute.

A metasomatic addition to the wedge resulting from devolatilization in the slab is the simplest explanationof the marked enrichment of the alkali and alkaline earth elements with respect to the rare earths in island arc basalts, together with the variably developed trends in Pb, Sr, and Nd isotopic data toward sedimentary contaminants. However, lack of the correlations between relative degrees of trace element fractionation and radiogenic isotopic ratios expected of such processes requires a more complex explanation. Alternative models that suggest that all of the characteristics of island arc basalts can be accounted for by melting of an intraoceanic, hot spot type of mantle source also face specific difficulties, particularly with regard to the strong depletions of trace high-field-strength elements in arc compared with hot spot magmas. A possible resolution of these specific geochemical difficulties may lie in dynamic transport processes within the wedge linked with the slab through coupled drag, and the marked depression of mantle isotherms in subduction zones. Inefficient escape of melts and subsequent repeated freezing within the overturning wedge can lead to local mineralogic and geochemical heterogeneity of the periodotite overlying the slab.

Fluids released from the slab may infiltrate the heterogeneous wedge and preferentially scavenge the alkalis and alkaline earths with respect to the rare earths and high field strength elements from locally enriched portions of the wedge. Incorporation of such metasomatic fluids in renewed melting at shallower but hotter levels within the wedge can give rise to the trace element and isotopic systematics generally observed in arc basalts. Furthermore, subsequent melting of wedge-type periodotite in nonsubduction zone environments can result in complementary enrichment of the high field strength elements compared with arcs, and in the general isotopic similarity of hot spot and arc magmas. Although it is likely that the wedge-type periodotite in any arc is heterogeneously veined by previous inefficient melt extraction episodes, it is possible that the subduction zone environment is most conductive to the generation of veining.