Investigation of the Lead Isotope Signatures of Marine Sediments in Relation to the Lead Isotope Signatures of Northern Andean Ores

Lead isotope ratios of ores and igneous rocks in the Central and Southern Andes show a large-scale geographic pattern related to magmatic source processes. This pattern changes in the Northern Andes for reasons that are not well understood; this study is an investigation of potential causes of this change. Deep ocean sediment samples from the Nazca Plate were analyzed for 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb, and the data were compared with published data on central Andean ores and ores and igneous rocks from Ecuador. Lead isotopic compositions of the Nazca Plate sediments are quite homogenous and are a close match with Andean ore lead in the coastal arc from central Perú through south-central Chile. However, the lead isotope ratios of the sediment samples are much lower than northern Perú and Ecuador ores. Variations in sediment composition are probably not the source of the northern Andean ore lead isotope pattern.