Chondritic magnesium isotopic composition of the terrestrial mantle: A case study of peridotite xenoliths from the North China craton

In order to further investigate inter-mineral Mg isotope fractionation at mantle temperatures and to better constrain the Mg isotopic composition of the terrestrial mantle, we have studied a set of well-characterized mantle peridotite xenoliths from Sanyitang and Beiyan, North China craton. The Sanyitang and Beiyan peridotites, which have diverse origins with different mineralogy, chemical composition and degree of partial melting and metasomatism, display a small variation in Mg isotopic composition, with δ26Mg varying from − 0.48 to − 0.12 and an average value of − 0.29 ± 0.19 (2SD, n = 21) in olivines, from − 0.27 to − 0.10 and an average value of − 0.21 ± 0.09 (2SD, n = 12) in orthopyroxenes and from − 0.35 to − 0.08 and an average value of − 0.22 ± 0.14 (2SD, n = 15) in clinopyroxenes. The Mg isotopic compositions of the coexisting olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene in all peridotites are identical within our external precision (~ ± 0.1‰, 2SD), suggesting that Mg isotope fractionation between olivine and pyroxenes at the temperatures of > 900 °C is insignificant. These results are thus consistent with the absence of Mg isotope fractionation during basalt differentiation. The ~ 0.4‰ Mg isotopic variations in these peridotite samples, which are larger than our external precision, might result from thermal diffusion-driven isotope fractionation or melt-rock interactions.Overall, the δ26Mg of the mantle, based on peridotite minerals analyzed here, is estimated to be − 0.26 ± 0.16 (2SD). This value is in excellent agreement with recent studies based on peridotites and oceanic basalts (Handler et al., 2009; Teng et al., 2007). It is also similar to δ26Mg values of two additional dunite standards (DTS-1 and DTS-2) and two carbonaceous chondrites (Allende and Murchison) analyzed in this study as well as δ26Mg of all published chondrites (~ − 0.3). The silicate Earth thus has a chondritic Mg isotopic composition.