Tracking Hadean processes in modern basalts with 142-Neodymium

The short-lived Sm146→142Nd isotope system (t1/2=103 Ma) provides constraints on the timing and processes of terrestrial silicate fractionation during the early Hadean. Although some Archean terranes preserve variability in 142Nd/144Nd, no anomalies have been resolved previously in young rocks. This study provides high precision 142Nd/144Nd data on a suite of ocean island basalts from Samoa and Hawaii previously shown to have variable depletions in 182W/184W that are inversely correlated with 3He/4He ratios. Improved analytical techniques and multiple replicate analyses of Nd show a variation in μ142Nd values between −1.3 and +2.7 in the suite, relative to the JNdi standard. Given the reproducibility of the standard (±2.9 ppm, 2 SD), two Samoan samples exhibit resolved variability in their 142Nd/144Nd ratios outside of their 95% confidence intervals, suggesting minor variability in the Samoan hotspot. One sample from Samoa has a higher μ142Nd of +2.7, outside the 95% confidence interval (±1.0 ppm) of the average of the JNdi standard. Limited, but resolved, variation in 142Nd/144Nd within the suite suggests the preservation of early Hadean silicate differentiation in the sources of at least some basalts from Samoa. Larger variations of 182W/184W and 3He/4He ratios in the same samples suggest that metal-silicate separation and mantle outgassing left a more persistent imprint on the accessible mantle compared to 142Nd/144Nd ratios which are impacted by early silicate differentiation.