Southern limit of mantle-derived geothermal helium emissions in Tibet: implications for lithospheric structure

The isotopic composition of helium emitted from geothermal springs in the southern Tibetan plateau, reported as Rc/RA (Rc=air corrected sample 3He/4He, RA=air 3He/4He), ranges from 0.013 to 0.38, and defines two principal domains. In southernmost central Tibet, helium isotope ratios are typical of radiogenic helium production in the crust (Rc/RA<0.05, crustal helium domain). Further north, there is a resolvable 3He anomaly consistent with a mantle contribution (R/RA>0.1, mantle helium domain). The highest values of 0.27–0.38 RA occur at the southern end of the Karakoram fault. The boundary between the two domains lies 50–100 km north of the Indus-Zangpo suture zone. There seems to be no association between the 3He anomaly and zones of active normal faulting and litho-tectonic crustal units, such as the ultramafic rocks of the Indus-Zangpo suture zone and the Gangdese intrusive belt. Although scavenging of mantle-derived helium, stored in large ultrabasic and basic intrusions in the crust, cannot be ruled out entirely, we argue that the 3He anomaly most plausibly reflects degassing of volatiles from young (Quaternary) mantle-derived melts intruded into the crust. As such, it defines the southern limit of recent mantle melting and mantle melt extraction beneath the Tibetan plateau. The southern limit of the 3He anomaly coincides with the junction between the Indian and Asian plates, in the region where the Indian lithospheric slab steepens and is subducted beneath Tibet as suggested by seismic studies. Recent mantle melting and melt extraction is confined to the Asian mantle, but the southern limit of the melt zone may have migrated northwards during the last 10 Ma as the Indian lithosphere has progressively underthrust the Himalayas and Tibet.