Platinum-group element signature of the primitive mantle rejuvenated by melt-rock reactions: evidence from Sumail peridotites (Oman Ophiolite)

Abstract

Platinum-group element (PGE) abundances in mantle rocks are generally considered to result from a late meteorite addition to the early Earth, post-dating the core separation event. As such, PGEs are key tracers for the Earth accretion history. For decades, the PGEs systematics of undepleted mantle peridotites has been used to constrain the composition of meteorite impactors involved in the late veneer material. Despite multiple evidence of considerable modifications by partial melting, harzburgites from the Sumail ophiolite (Oman) display a mean PGE composition very akin to recently refined estimates for the Primitive Upper Mantle (PUM) of the Earth. These rocks document a resetting of the PUM signature by percolating basaltic melts, which precipitated Pd-enriched Cu-Ni sulphides within a strongly Pd-depleted residual harzburgitic protolith. Such a resetting casts doubt on both the reliability of any PUM estimates and relevance of the PUM concept itself, at least for PGEs.