Composition and timing of carbonate vein precipitation within the igneous basement of the Early Cretaceous Shatsky Rise, NW Pacific

Numerous calcium carbonate veins were recovered from the igneous basement of the Early Cretaceous Shatslcy Rise during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 324. The chemical (Sr/Ca, Mg/Ca) and isotopic (Sr-87/Sr-86, Nd-143/Nd-144, delta C-18, delta C-13) compositions of these veins were determined to constrain the timing of vein formation. A dominant control by seawater chemistry on calcite composition is evident for most vein samples with variable contributions from the basaltic basement. Slightly elevated precipitation temperatures (as inferred from oxygen isotope ratios), indicative of hydrothermal vein formation, are only observed at Site U1350 in the central part of Shatsky Rise. The highest Sr-87/Sr-86 ratios (least basement influence) of vein samples at each drill site range from 0.70726 to 0.70755 and are believed to reflect the contemporaneous seawater composition during the time of calcite precipitation. In principle, age information can be deduced by correlating these ratios with the global seawater Sr isotope evolution. Since the Sr isotopic composition of seawater has fluctuated three times between the early and mid Cretaceous, no unambiguous precipitation ages can be constrained by this method and vein precipitation could have occurred at any time between similar to 80 and 140 Ma. However, based on combined chemical and isotopic data and correlations of vein composition with formation depth and inferred temperature, we argue for a rather early precipitation of the veins shortly after basement formation at each respective drill site. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.