Mantle source heterogeneity in the Campanian Region (South Italy) as inferred from geochemical and isotopic features of mafic volcanic rocks with shoshonitic affinity

Major, trace element and Sr-Nd-isotopic data on mafic volcanic rocks with shoshonitic affinity from the islands of Procida and Ventotene (Campanian Region, South Italy) are reported. Within-suite chemical and isotopic variations are interpreted in terms of open system differentiation processes held responsible for enrichment in a number of trace elements and for radiogenic Sr observed in both Procida and Ventotene volcanic sequences. Conversely, trace element contents and Sr-Nd-isotopic compositions of the least-evolved among the investigated samples are thought to reflect source region characteristics with only negligible crustal contamination of the primary magmas. The data support an origin from distinct source regions for the primary magmas. In the case of Ventotene, the source would have been asthenospheric and/or lithospheric mantle with features similar to transitional mid-ocean ridge basalts (T-MORB), modified by enriching agents made up mainly of subducted slab-released components coming from marly sediments (about 7%) similar to cherts from Tuscan Apennines plus a limestone contribution. In the case of Procida, the source would have been asthenospheric and/or lithospheric mantle with a slightly more enriched T-MORB-like feature with respect to Ventotene, modified by slab-derived enriching agents, likely represented by a small amount of sediments (about 2.5%) of oceanic nature (mostly terrigenous/pelagic). These differences are constrained by lower Zr/Nb, Y/Nb, Sc/Nb, V/Nb, LILE/HFSE, LREE/HFSE and87Sr/86Sr, higher Ba/La and143Nd/144Nd ratios, as well as by the lack of a detectable negative Eu anomaly, in the least-evolved volcanic rocks of Procida, with respect to those of Ventotene, which show conversely a significant negative Eu anomaly. Thus, a sharp heterogeneity exists in the mantle beneath the Campanian Region. It is thought to be the consequence of two different slabs which are in contact along the Volturno River Plain tectonic line: a continental slab, seismically inactive, descending beneath the Latium Region, and an oceanic slab, seismically active, descending beneath the Calabria, up to the Campanian Region.