Large-scale mantle heterogeneity as a legacy of plate tectonic supercycles

Abstract

The Earth’s mantle is divided by the circum-Pacific subduction girdle into the African and Pacific domains, each featuring a large low-shear-wave-velocity province (LLSVP) in the lower mantle. However, how this hemispherical-scale mantle structure links to Earth’s plate tectonic evolution remains unclear. Previous geochemical work has suggested the presence of a north–south hemispheric subdivision, with large-scale mantle heterogeneities in the Southern Hemisphere, termed the DUPAL (Dupré and Allegre) anomaly. Here we compile elemental and isotopic data of both shallow-mantle-derived oceanic igneous rocks from mid-ocean ridges and deeper-mantle plume-related samples (ocean islands and oceanic plateaus) and analyse these using supervised machine learning classification methods. Data from both shallow- and deeper-mantle-sourced samples illustrate a consistent chemical dichotomy. Our results indicate that heterogeneities in the present-day shallow and deep mantle are not exclusively controlled by the north–south hemispheric DUPAL anomaly. Instead, they are consistent with a chemical dichotomy between the African and Pacific mantle domains and their associated LLSVPs. These observations can best be explained by tectonic supercycles over the past one billion years involving two supercontinents and two superoceans.