Highly siderophile element composition of the Earth’s primitive upper mantle: Constraints from new data on peridotite massifs and xenoliths

Osmium, Ru, Ir, Pt, Pd and Re abundances and 187Os/188Os data on peridotites were determined using improved analytical techniques in order to precisely constrain the highly siderophile element (HSE) composition of fertile lherzolites and to provide an updated estimate of HSE composition of the primitive upper mantle (PUM). The new data are used to better constrain the origin of the HSE excess in Earth’s mantle. Samples include lherzolite and harzburgite xenoliths from Archean and post-Archean continental lithosphere, peridotites from ultramafic massifs, ophiolites and other samples of oceanic mantle such as abyssal peridotites. Osmium, Ru and Ir abundances in the peridotite data set do not correlate with moderately incompatible melt extraction indicators such as Al2O3. Os/Ir is chondritic in most samples, while Ru/Ir, with few exceptions, is ca. 30% higher than in chondrites. Both ratios are constant over a wide range of Al2O3 contents, but show stronger scatter in depleted harzburgites. Platinum, Pd and Re abundances, their ratios with Ir, Os and Ru, and the 187Os/188Os ratio (a proxy for Re/Os) show positive correlations with Al2O3, indicating incompatible behavior of Pt, Pd and Re during mantle melting. The empirical sequence of peridotite-melt partition coefficients of Re, Pd and Pt as derived from peridotites (DRes/l