Contamination of mafic magma by partial melting of dolomitic xenoliths

Mg-skarns enclosed in dunite cumulates of the Neo-Proterozoic Ioko-Dovyren intrusion (northern Baikal region, Russia) can be traced to silica-poor dolomitic host rock layers. The dominant minerals of the skarns are brucite (pseudomorph after periclase), forsterite and Cr-poor spinel. Rapid heating of quartzpoor dolomitic xenoliths led to the formation of minor olivine, followed by the breakdown of dolomite to calcite and periclase. Xenoliths were partially melted upon further heating resulting in a calcite melt. This low-density melt was quantitatively squeezed out, mixed with the surrounding mafic magma and left behind periclase and olivine. This caused the crystallization of new olivine w…

Os isotope and PGE systematics of peridotites from the Othris Opiolite, Greece

Chemical composition of modern and fossil hippopotamid teeth and implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and enamel formation – Part 2: Alkaline earth elements as tracers of watershed hydrochemistry and provenance

Abstract. For reconstructing environmental change in terrestrial realms the geochemistry of fossil bioapatite in bones and teeth is among the most promising applications. This study demonstrates that alkaline earth elements in enamel of Hippopotamids, in particular Ba and Sr are tracers for water provenance and hydrochemistry. The studied specimens are molar teeth from Hippopotamids found in modern and fossil lacustrine settings of the Western Branch of the East African Rift system (Lake Kikorongo, Lake Albert, and Lake Malawi) and from modern fluvial environments of the Nile River. Concentrations in enamel vary by ca. two orders of magnitude for Ba (120–9336 μg g−1) as well as for Sr (9–21…

Chemical composition of modern and fossil Hippopotamid teeth and implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and enamel formation – Part 1: Major and minor element variation

Bioapatite in mammalian teeth is readily preserved in continental sediments and represents a very important archive for reconstructions of environment and climate evolution. This project provides a comprehensive data base of major, minor and trace element and isotope tracers for tooth apatite using a variety of microanalytical techniques. The aim is to identify specific sedimentary environments and to improve our understanding on the interaction between internal metabolic processes during tooth formation and external nutritional control and secondary alteration effects. Here, we use the electron microprobe to determine the major and minor element contents of fossil and modern molar enamel, …

Traces of ancient mafic layers in the Tethys oceanic mantle

Abstract Oceanic basalts are formed by melting of a chemically and isotopically heterogeneous mantle source. The oceanic mantle probably resembles a marble cake containing layers of mafic rock – perhaps recycled ocean crust – stored in the mantle for >1 billion years. Many questions about the nature and distribution of these mantle heterogeneities remain. Here we show that lithological and isotopic traces of ancient mafic layers can still be seen in mantle rocks that have melted to form oceanic crust at a spreading centre in the Tethys Ocean. We have found centimetre-scale heterogeneity in initial osmium isotope ratios in mantle rocks from the Pindos Ophiolite. Deformed pyroxenite layers ha…

HYDROTHERMAL CARBONATES OF THE SCHWARZWALD ORE DISTRICT, SOUTHWESTERN GERMANY: CARBON SOURCE AND CONDITIONS OF FORMATION USING  18O,  13C, 87Sr/86Sr, AND FLUID INCLUSIONS

Diagenetic carbonates, metamorphic carbonates, primary hydrothermal carbonates, and secondary remobilized carbonates (including sinters) from the Schwarzwald ore district in SW Germany formed in various tectonic settings and hydrothermal environments over a period of almost 300 Ma. They were investigated in order to define sources of carbon, dispersion of carbon during fluid-rock interaction processes and, where possible, to specify geochemical fingerprints for carbonates formed during different processes and in different geochemical and tectonic environments. For this purpose, 335 samples of calcite, ankerite, dolomite, siderite, and strontianite from 92 localities in 46 mining areas in th…