Formation of the Ce-Nd mantle array: Crustal extraction vs. recycling by subduction

We present new measurements of 138Ce/142Ce and 143Nd/144Nd isotopic ratios in terrestrial and extra-terrestrial samples. The mean value obtained from nine chondrites defines the 138Ce/142Ce ratio of the chondritic uniform reservoir (CHUR) as (2sd). MORBs and OIBs define the mantle array in the εNd vs. εCe diagram to be . From MORB measurements, we derive the isotopic composition of the depleted MORB mantle (DMM) to be (2sd). Both CHUR and a modelled early-depleted mantle reservoir plot on the mantle array. Thus, the precise determination of the mantle array does not further constrain the La/Ce and Sm/Nd ratios of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE; i.e., primitive mantle). The composition of 1.8 Ga upper continental crust obtained from aeolian sediments is (2sd; ), and that of its 2.2 Ga equivalent is (2sd; ). Binary mixing models between depleted (DMM) and enriched (upper crust or mafic crust composition) components do not reproduce the linear Ce-Nd mantle array but plots close to the island arc basalt data. When the bulk Ce isotopic composition of the continental crust is calculated from the range of accepted Nd isotope values and a mass-balance budget of the BSE, the mixing curves are closer to the mantle array. However the calculated Ce isotopic composition for the bulk crust is always less radiogenic than measurements. Adjusting the Ce-Nd isotopic composition or the Ce/Nd ratio of the end-members to fully linearise the mixing curve leads to unrealistic values never measured in terrestrial samples. We propose a recycling model to reconstruct the mantle array with the participation of both oceanic crust and sediments in the mantle through time. Cerium is a redox sensitive element, making the La-Ce and Sm-Nd systematics an ideal combination to investigate sediment recycling through time. In this recycling model, the most extreme EM-like signatures require the involvement of oceanic sediments that formed under reduced conditions before the Great Oxygenation Event at 2.4 Ga, and which are devoid of Ce elemental anomalies