1.6 The Epsilon Notation heidoroperarios Ne Na 1Nd (ivasserburg etal 1983) NN, Referenceratio. Present "/nd/Nd of HUR Nd’“Na 07209 “nay'*na 0} aa} Nd) of mones ona 7518S of MORDS Fig, 1.5 Schematic representation of she "Mantle Array defined by the sotupe campositions af Nid and Se ia mid- ocean ridge bsalts( MOKD) irom cera locations. The measured "Nd 65d ratios of MORBs have been expressa! in lertes of epsilon calues rebtive 10 the Chondeti: Unifarm Reservoir (CHUR} based on Eg ito. vole uf cero for e%(Nd)lnplies that ORB ai CHCR have the same A/G ratio and that 90 iflereniaian has occurred. Therefore, the Sr in MOR having ed} ~o presse abiyalio originated drom an Undifleteatisted Reservoir called UR. The Montle Arcay indicates that UR-hae n present 9/4 ‘of o7045 #0,0205, Theretore,this value is used t define the eps. lon parameter fr Sein Ey 23 {Snurce DePaole 1988) to the same reference value as the “)Nd/!""Nd of CHUR used to calculate the epsilon parameter, The e"(Nd) vahtes oF some mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) vary inversely with their Se/"S¢ ratios inthe sovcalled Mantle Array" shownschematicallyin Fig. This correlation between the Sm-Nd and the Rb-Sr sys tems is caused by differences in the geochemical prop- erties of Smand Rb during magma formation by par tial melting of rocks in the mantle, Wheteas Rb centrated in the silicate liquid, $m remains in the solid phases. Therefore, partial melting in the mantle causes the Rb/Sr ratio of the residual racks to decrease, whereas heir Sm/Nd ratios increase, Consequently, the so-called ilepleted regions of the mantle have comparatively low "Sri!*Sr ratios but elevated “/Nd/Nd ratios. Array maybe the result of mixing of magmas derived from depleted and undepleted source rocks in the mantle MORBs whose (Nd) value is equal to zero contain Nd whose !*'Nd/!" Nid ratio isidentical that of CHUR, nagma sources of such MORBs are ut differentiated with respect to the chondritic reservoir, Presumably, these MORBs also contain Sr derived from an undifferentiated reservoir. The Mantle Array in tig. 1.5 indicates that the Sr in the Undifferentiated Reservoir called UR is characterized by heretore, the | =o70 (DePaclo 1988). The "Rb/!*Sr ratio of UR ig calcu. lated on the basis of the assumption that the "St/*St ratio of URatthe time of formation of the Earth at 455 Ga was identical to that of basaltic achondrite meteorites: | ~assis» ST where BABI stands for Basaltic Achondrite Best Initial Therefore, the “'Rb/"*Sr ratio of UR can be calculated from Eq. 112 for r= 455% 10" vr: mens 070. (Rb 7 “| “= 0.0286 sr 9 The Undifferentiated Reservoir is also referred to as the Bulk Barth, but the validity of this concept has be come somewhat tarnished by the fact that the correla: tion between ""’Nas#*Nd and * St/"S¢ ratios of MORBs isnot as well consteained as it originally appeared to be (Faure 1986; DePaolu 1988), By analogy with the Sm-Nd system, the & rameter is defined as SF) pa Se) “ssn (ge) = poo se Sry, io" a8)y__Caasten 1» Chemical Properties andl Isotope Systematics e%Sr) = epsilon value at the present time = measured value of this ratio at the pre sent time after correcting itfor isotope fractionation 19 °*Sr!"Sr = 0.11940 = value of this ratio of UR at the present time and assumed to be equal to 0.7045, S81 =0.1940 correcied 10. Epsilon values for Sr can also be calculated for any time in the past, such as atthe time of formation of an igneous rock, In this case, the measured "Sr/"*Sr ratio is replaced by the initial ratio (determined from an iso chon) and the *Se/"Sr ratio of UR is recalculated to the appropriate time based on Eq, 1.12 Epsilon values that represent the "Sr/"*Sr ratio of @ Rb-Sr system in the past are designated by e'(Sr). ‘A positive value of €"(Se) imples that the Rb-Sr srs tem has been enriched in radiogenic "Sr compared to the hypothetical Undifferentiated Reservoir, whereas a negative value of e"(Sr) indicates depletion in "Se. En. richment or depletion of igneous rocks in radiogenic sr relative 1o UR may'be caused either by appropriate changes in the Rb/Sr ratio of their magma sources prior to partial melting, oF to processes that affected. the magma after its formation, such as assimilation of old crustal rocks, of mixing of magmas derived from dit ferent souee The ""Rb/"Se ratios of terresirial samples can also be ceforted tothe " Rb!Sr ratio of the Undifferentiated Reservoir by means of the relation Rb Rb Sy, PROMS, fIRbISH) = (aay Therefore, Rb-Sr systems that are enriched ia Rb or depleted in Sr relative to UR have positive f values, whereas systems thal are depleted in Rb or enriched in Srhave negative values of ‘The epsilon notation for expressing isotope compo- of Sr, as well as f(RD/Sr) valuess depend on the © Sei86Sr and “Rb/Sr ratios of the hypothetical Undit ferentiated Reservoir. These values should therefore be specified whenever dats are presented in terms of epsi Jon values or in terms of enrichment factors, 1,7 Mixtures of Two Components Geological processes occurring in a varlety of environ- menis in the crust of the Earth and on its surface cause mixing of materials with different concentrations and different isotope compositions of elements having ra- diogenic isotopes (e.g. Sr, Nd, Pb, HI, and Os). Examples of such proc include 1._ Assimilation of granitic rocks of the continental crust by basaltic magma originating in the mantle: . Mixing ef two magmas derived from diflere 3, Co-deposition of detrital Sediment derived from young volcanic and old crustal rocks ‘Mixing of water masses that have interacted with dif ferent kinds of rocksin the subsurface or on the sur: face of the Barth (e.g. Pranklyn etal. 1903) 1.7.1 Two-component Mixtures The concentrations of Rb, Stand of other conser vat sloments of twoscompanent mixtures depend on their concentrations in the components and on the propor tions by weight or volume of these components. If [X] is the concentration of a conservative clement int two cam pontents A and B, then: [ly = 1X, fat Xda fad (125) where * Xl entration of element X in a mixture M ofcomponents A and By + [X],a—concentration of element X in the compo. nents Aand B, respectively, and weight or volume fraction of component & in the mixture M. fs ‘The mixing parameter fy is defined by the equation; Wi, haem (126) where W., and Wp are the weights of A and Bin @ given mixture, For example, fone gram of a mixture conteins og of A and 0,7 g of B, the corresponding value of f,=0.3/ (0:3 + 0.7) = 03. Similarly, the mass fraction of 1b in the same mixture is fy= 07! (0.3 +0.7)= 0.7, 08 {n=1~ fy The mixing parameter is expressed in terms ‘of Weights when the concentrations of element X are ‘measured in weight units, such as ug g '-lf the concen trations are expressed i volume units, sach as ux ml the mixing parameter is the corresponding volume fraction.