Contribution of slab-derived fluid and sedimentary melt in the incipient arc magmas with development of the paleo-arc in the Oman Ophiolite

Major-element and trace-element geochemistry of fresh volcanic glass, and the whole-rock Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of volcanic rocks from the Oman Ophiolite were used to understand the extent to which slab-derived fluids and melts were involved in magma generation during incipient arc development. The spreading stage (V1) samples have trace-element characteristics similar to those of mid-ocean-ridge basalts, with Hf and Nd isotopic compositions of the Indian mantle domain. The incipient arc stage (V2) volcanic glasses have lower abundances of high field strength elements (HFSEs) and middle and heavy rare earth elements (MREEs and HREEs), and higher abundances of large ion lithophile elements (LILEs) than the V1 glasses. Progressive increases in B, Pb, and LILEs in the V2 stage glasses with age indicate an increasing contribution of slab-derived fluids from earlier arc tholeiite (LV2) to later boninite (UV2). The LV2 was generated by the contribution of amphibolite-derived fluid. The UV2 is subdivided into low-Si UV2 and high-Si UV2 magmas, with the former having lower SiO2, and LILE, and higher Na2O, HFSE and REE concentrations than the latter. The low-Si UV2 magma was generated with the involvement of high-temperature slab-derived fluid. In contrast, the high-Si UV2 shows a spoon-shaped trace-element pattern and Hf and Nd isotope chemistry, indicating the involvement of sediment melt in its magma genesis. Decreasing HFSEs and HREEs in the magmas with age indicate progressive depletion of the source mantle during the V2 arc magmatism, suggesting an absence of convection in the mantle wedge that resulted from subduction of a hot, buoyant slab beneath young, hot lithosphere.