Neodymium and Strontium Isotope Evidence for Crustal Contamination of Continental Volcanics

Abstract

Combined neodymium and strontium isotope studies on Tertiary volcanics from northwest Scotland indicate that their parental mantle isotopic compositions have been substantially modified in many instances by contamination with the Precambrian continental crust through which they were erupted. The occurrence of samarium-neodymium and rubidium-strontium "pseudoisochrons" of different ages in these contaminated continental volcanics indicates that they are artifacts of the contamination processes and have no temporal significance with respect to mantle fractionation events.