A variety of xenoliths from the lower crust to mantle transition occur in Quaternary mafic intraplate lavas of the Bayuda volcanic field of northern Sudan. The lower-crust xenoliths include plagioclase- and garnet-bearing mafic granulite. Ultra-mafic garnet-bearing pyroxenite, websterite, hornblendite, and distinct peridotite xenoliths are from the upper lithospheric mantle. Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope signatures distinguish between ultramafic and granulite xenoliths. The latter show a strong compositional affinity to juvenile Neoproterozoic crust. The Pb isotope composition of the ultramafic xenoliths resembles the distinct high-μ signature ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb >19.5) of their host basanite. These xenoliths may represent cumulates of late Mesozoic to Quaternary mafic intraplate magmatism. The felsic upper crust in a schematic lithospheric profile of the Bayuda area includes predominantly granitoids, migmatites, and metasedimentary rocks that represent reworked old cratonic or juvenile Neoproterozoic rocks. The deep lower crust is represented by mafic granulite, likely cumulate rocks from Neoproterozoic juvenile magmatism. The crust-mantle transition is characterized by ultramafic cumulate rocks possibly from the late Mesozoic to Quaternary magmatism. The peridotites of the same xenolith suites represent typical lithospheric mantle with variable degrees of depletion by melt extraction.

Abstract The evolution of the oxygen minimum zone within the permanent thermocline of the Arabian Sea (AS) during early and mid-Holocene time was reconstructed from a laminated sediment core taken from the Pakistani continental margin (316 m water depth). A trace metal proxy for water column ventilation (authigenic U) was extracted by principal component analysis from a large dataset of inorganic and total organic carbon (TOC) measurements. This proxy is compared with preservation of lamination and paired benthic-planktonic 14 C data. The latter record the Δ 14 C depth gradient in the AS and may provide a sensitive indicator for ventilation by enhanced surface convection. Laminated sediments were preserved between 10 and 7.5 ka bp on the Pakistani continental margin and accumulated authigenic U independently from TOC accumulation. The inferred reducing conditions in the AS thermocline are in agreement with high palaeoproductivity in the western AS upwelling region. Century-scale variability in northern AS surface hydrography (recorded as δ 18 O in planktonic foraminifera) is reflected in the accumulation of authigenic U on the Pakistani margin. The agreement of AS surface conditions, which generally reflect the South Asian monsoon (SAM), with ventilation of the OMZ confirms a dominant influence of the SAM and summer monsoon upwelling in particular on AS thermocline ventilation during early Holocene time. However, the preservation of laminated sediments off Pakistan and palaeoproductivity in the western AS disagree before 10 ka cal. bp, and between 7.5 and 5.5 cal. ka bp. Here, the absence of lamination indicates better ventilation of the thermocline, whereas palaeoproductivity in the upwelling region was high. This suggests that other factors may also have contributed in variable proportions to AS thermocline ventilation. At present, these factors include lateral advection of oxygenated Central Indian Water and ventilation by winter surface convection in the northern AS.