Geochemical modeling of mantle differentiation and crustal growth

Abstract

A simple two‐reservoir. model with time‐dependent transport coefficients between the reservoirs has been used to model the abundances of K, Ar, Rb, Sr, Sm, Nd, U, Th, and Pb and the isotopic compositions of Ar, Sr, Nd, and Pb in the earth's mantle and continental crust. The transport coefficients, like heat production, are considered to decay exponentially with time. Models which involve the whole mantle in generating the continental crust yield 87 Sr/144 and 143 Nd/144 Nd ratios for the residual mantle which are higher and lower than midocean ridge basalts, respectively. A model which involves only half of the mantle in the production of continental crust produces a residual mantle with isotope ratios similar to those of midocean ridge basalt. The 40 Ar/36 Ar ratios in the atmosphere and suboceanic mantle are reproduced by this model without any inequality in the upward transport coefficients of K and Ar but with a smaller downward transport coefficient for Ar than for K. The results imply that the earth's crust may have developed by extraction of material from only half of the mantle and constrain the possible convective regimes that have existed in the mantle.