The architecture of the European-Mediterranean lithosphere: A synthesis of the Re-Os evidence

Abstract

Rhenium-depletion model ages (TRD) of sulfi des in peridotite xenoliths from the subcontinental
mantle beneath central Spain (the Calatrava volcanic fi eld) reveal that episodes of
mantle magmatism and/or metasomatism in the Iberia microplate were linked to crustal
growth events, mainly during supercontinent assembly and/or breakup at ca. 1.8, 1.1, 0.9,
0.6, and 0.3 Ga. A synthesis of available in situ and whole-rock Os-isotope data on mantlederived
peridotites shows that this type of mantle (maximum TRD of ca. 1.8 Ga) is widespread
in the subcontinental mantle of Europe and Africa outboard from the Betics-Maghrebides-
Appenines front. In contrast, the mantle enclosed within the Alpine domain records TRD as old
as 2.6 Ga, revealing a previously unrecognized Archean domain or domains in the central and
western Mediterranean. Our observations indicate that ancient fragments of subcontinental
lithospheric mantle have played an important role in the development of the present architecture
of the Mediterranean lithosphere.