Pb-isotopic compositions of volcanic rocks in the West and East Philippine island arcs: presence of the Dupal isotopic anomaly

The Philippine islands are situated between two oppositely dipping zones of seismicity. With the exception of a few areas, such as in the west central Philippines where the North Palawan continental terrane (NPCT) has collided with the archipelago, these seismic zones are well defined to depths of 200 km. Active volcanic chains overlay segments in each of these zones, suggesting that subduction is presently taking place both east and west of the islands. Lavas we have studied are thus divided between what has been termed the West Philippine arc and the East Philippine arc. West Philippine arc volcanic rocks which were extruded before the Philippine archipelago collided with the NPCT, or which are younger than the collision but crop out hundreds of kilometers from the collision zone, and all but one of the rocks from the East Philippine arc fall in the MORB field on 207Pb204Pb versus 206Pb204Pb covariation diagrams. This is surprising considering the frequency with which arc materials have 207Pb204Pb ratios higher than those of MORB, the high Ba REE and Sr REE ratios in the lavas and the possibility of sediment subduction given the small accretionary prisms. All of these rocks have high 208Pb204Pb ratios with respect to Pacific and Atlantic Ocean MORB, but are similar to Indian Ocean MORB and IOB. Thus the Philippines consist of island arcs with the peculiar Dupal isotopic anomaly documented between 0° and 60°S in the southern hemisphere and particularly in the Indian Ocean region. This demonstrates that the Dupal isotopic anomaly is not restricted to the southern hemisphere, or to MORB and OIB. Post-collision rocks cropping out near the NPCT, in the West Philippine arc, have elevated 208Pb204Pb and 207Pb204Pb ratios that could be attributed to assimilation of the newly introduced continental crust (NPCT) by mantle-derived magmas or to the addition of a sedimentary component to mantle-derived magmas. © 1987.