Abstract
Spinel facies dunite, harzburgite, lherzolite and wehrlite mantle xenoliths from a cluster of Miocene volcanoes in southern New Zealand preserve evidence of the complex evolution of the underlying continental mantle lithosphere. Spinel Cr# records melt extraction with some values indicative of near complete removal of clinopyroxene. LREE-enriched, low Ti/Eu and low Al2O3 clinopyroxene and rare F-, LREE-rich apatite indicates subsequent interaction between peridotite and a metasomatising carbonatitic melt. The clearest metasomatic signature occurs in the formerly highly depleted samples because there was little or no pre-existing clinopyroxene to dilute the carbonatite signature. For the same reason, the isotopic character of the metasomatising agent is best observed in the formerly highly depleted peridotites (Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.7028-0.7031; Nd-143/Nd-144 = 0.5129; Pb-206/Pb-204 = 20.2-20.3). These isotope ratios are very close to, but slightly less radiogenic than, the HIMU end-member mantle reservoir. Nd isotope data imply carbonatite metasomatism occurred within the last several hundred million years, with ubiquitous pyroxene core-to-rim Al diffusion zoning indicating that it must pre-date cooling of the lithospheric mantle following Late Cretaceous-Eocene rifting of Zealandia from Gondwana. Metasomatism was significantly younger than ancient Re-depletion ages of similar to 2 Ga and shows that decoupling of peridotite isotope systems has occurred.