Distribution of PGE in Permo-Triassic basalts of the Siberian Large Igneous Province

Abstract We have revealed the spatio-temporal regularities of distribution of platinum group elements (PGE) in basaltoids related to the activity of the Siberian mantle plume. As objects of study, we chose rift and flood basalts from the Norilsk district (sampled from the SD-9 borehole), flood basalts from the central part of the Tunguska syneclise (Lower Tunguska), Kuznetsk Basin traps, and subalkalic basalt from the Semeitau volcanoplutonic structure in eastern Kazakhstan. Based on the PGE patterns of basaltoids related to the activity of the Permo-Triassic Siberian plume, we have shown that the rocks that formed in the central part of the Siberian Large Igneous Province (LIP) at the early rift stage have low contents of PGE, whereas picrites and tholeiitic flood basalts have high contents. The rift (Semeitau structure) and flood (Kuznetsk Basin traps) basalts from the peripheral regions are characterized by extremely low PGE contents. The high PGE contents in magmas of the plume head are responsible for the high productivity of ultramafic–mafic trap magmatism. The elevated K contents in magmas and the high PGE contents in the mantle plume head are probably due to the ascent of deep-seated material from the core–lower-mantle boundary, as follows from the thermochemical model of the Siberian plume.