A Precious Metal Perspective on Crust to Core Interaction in Intraplate Magmas

Intraplate magmas, including those that form ocean island basalts, are considered probes for mantle composition. A key observation has been that some intraplate settings have radiogenic 186Os/188Os signatures, implying a long-term high time-integrated Pt/Os ratio in their source. This signature has been variously attributed to core-mantle interactions or alternative high Pt/Os sulfide reservoirs in Earth's mantle. In this talk, Day will show that some intraplate magmas can also inherit a radiogenic 186Os/188Os signature from crustal contamination processes. Day will then examine how 186Os/188Os variations in ocean island basalts compare with 'mantle flavors' and the consequences such data have for understanding potential core-mantle interaction processes, and early Earth heterogeneity.

Read more about Day's work on his faculty profile.