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The helium paradoxes

D L Anderson1

  • 1Seismological Laboratory 252-21, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|May 9, 1998
PubMed
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High helium-3/helium-4 ratios in ocean island basalts do not indicate a primordial mantle. Instead, these signatures result from low helium-4 abundance in shallow, refractory upper mantle sources, challenging deep-reservoir models.

Area of Science:

  • Geochemistry
  • Isotope Geochemistry
  • Mantle Geodynamics

Background:

  • The helium-3/helium-4 (3He/4He) ratio (R) is crucial for mantle evolution models, particularly those postulating an undegassed lower mantle with primordial 3He.
  • Recent models suggesting a large primordial, volatile-rich reservoir conflict with high-temperature accretion and Earth chemistry estimates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the origin of high 3He/4He ratios in terrestrial materials.
  • To evaluate whether high 3He/4He ratios indicate a primordial, undegassed mantle reservoir or alternative explanations.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of helium isotope ratios (3He/4He) in geological samples.
  • Comparison of isotopic signatures in midocean ridge basalts and ocean island basalts.
  • Modeling of helium and uranium/thorium partitioning and abundance.

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Main Results:

  • High 3He/4He materials are gas-poor and depleted in radiogenic 4He compared to midocean ridge basalts.
  • Seemingly primitive signatures in hotspot magmas may be secondary, linked to CO2-rich gases or residual peridotite.
  • Spatial and temporal variations in R are explained by a shallow, low 3He source, consistent with a volatile-poor Earth.

Conclusions:

  • High 3He/4He ratios are primarily due to low 4He abundance, not excess 3He.
  • These findings do not support models requiring deep, primordial, or undegassed mantle reservoirs.
  • A shallow origin for "primitive" He signatures in ocean island basalts reconciles isotopic data with crustal and atmospheric signatures.