Isotopic and geochemical evidence for a recent transition in mantle chemistry beneath the western Canadian Cordillera

New petrologic, geochemical, and isotopic data are reported from a suite of mafic dike and lava flow samples collected from sites within the western Canadian Cordillera. Samples range in age from Eocene to Quaternary and document a significant transition in mantle chemistry that occurred sometime after 10 Ma. Eocene to late Miocene basalts emplaced as dikes within the Coast Mountains Batholith contain abundant hornblende, are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) (Ba, Rb, K), have negative high field strength element (HFSE) (Nb, Ta) anomalies, and were likely derived from lithospheric mantle (Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.70353-0.70486; epsilon(Nd) = +2.5 to +5.7) that was stabilized after the cessation of arc magmatism in the area. By contrast, Quaternary lava flows have lower LILE concentrations, positive Nb-Ta anomalies, and were likely generated by upwelling asthenosphere (Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.70266-0.70386; epsilon(Nd) = +7.4 to +8.8) or at least a mantle source with different chemical and isotopic characteristics. A regional comparison of mafic rocks from western Canada that are also Eocene to Quaternary in age indicates that the transition in mantle chemistry after 10 Ma was pervasive and widespread and was not limited to the present study area. This transition occurred similar to 40 Ma after the cessation of Cordilleran arc magmatism in central British Columbia, suggesting that large-scale transitions in mantle chemistry beneath magmatic arcs may occur on the order of tens of millions of years after the final subduction of oceanic lithosphere, in this case as a result of lithospheric thinning by continental extension.