Search results for " petrology"
showing 10 items of 1353 documents
Zirconolite-bearing ultra-potassic veins in a mantle-xenolith from Mt. Melbourne Volcanic Field, Victoria Land, Antarctica
1991
One mantle xenolith from a basanite host of the Mt. Melbourne Volcanic Field (Ross Sea Rift) is extraordinary in containing veins filled with leucite, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, nepheline, Mg-ilmenite, apatite, titaniferous mica, and the rare mineral zirconolite. These veins show extensive reaction with the dunitic or lherzolitic host (olivine+spinel+orthopyroxene+clinopyroxene). The reaction areas contain skeletal olivine and diopside crystals, plagioclase, phlogopite, aluminous spinel and ilmenite in a fine grained groundmass of aluminous spinel, clinopyroxene, olivine, plagioclase and interstitial leucite. The vein composition estimated from modal abundances and microprobe analyses is a…
Evidence from Antarctic mantle peridotite xenoliths for changes in mineralogy, geochemistry and geothermal gradients beneath a developing rift
2006
Abstract Garnet and spinel peridotite xenoliths associated with the Phanerozoic Lambert–Amery Rift in eastern Antarctica contain evidence for several stages in the development of the mantle beneath the rift. Despite the fact that equilibria were only partly attained, a combination of petrography, whole-rock geochemistry, mineral chemistry and thermobarometry can be used to decipher four stages prior to entrainment of the xenoliths in the host magma during the initial stages of the breakup of Antarctica, India and Madagascar. The first chronological stage is represented by harzburgitic protoliths represented by rare occurrences of low-Ca olivines and orthopyroxenes in spinel lherzolites: the…
The composition of near-solidus melts of peridotite in the presence of CO2 and H2O between 40 and 60 kbar
2009
Abstract Partial melting experiments at 40, 50 and 60 kbar pressure on three peridotite compositions with 0.5–0.63 wt.% H2O and 2.0–3.2 wt.% CO2 added indicate melting temperatures only marginally above continental geotherms. Most experiments were performed on a composition with 1.5 wt.% K2O added, which causes a further decrease of about 40 °C in melting temperature. Melts progress gradually from carbonate-rich to carbonated silicate in composition: near-solidus melts have Ca/(Ca + Mg) of 0.46–0.53, which fall to 30 wt.%) and Al2O3 ( 9 wt.%) and concomitant decrease in CaO (> 20 to Partial melts of peridotite with CO2 and H2O are too low in MgO to resemble kimberlites, but will act as ef…
Are highly siderophile elements (PGE, Re and Au) fractionated in the upper mantle of the earth? New results on peridotites from Zabargad
2000
Abstract Seven peridotite samples from Zabargad Island (Red Sea) were analyzed for highly siderophile elements (HSE), including five platinum-group elements (PGE: Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pd) and Re and Au. Petrography and chemical composition of the samples had been published earlier [Kurat, G., Palme, h., Embey-Isztin, A., Touret, J., Ntaflos, T., Spettel, B., Brandstatter, F., Palme, C., Dreibus, G., Prinz, m., 1993. Petrology and geochemistry of peridotites and associated vein rocks of Zabargad Island, Red Sea, Egypt. Mineralogy and Petrology 48, 309–341]. Five samples with chemical compositions typical of upper mantle rocks, from fertile to increasingly depleted mantle (CaO: 3.39 to 0.21%), hav…
Recycling plus: A new recipe for the formation of Alpine-Himalayan orogenic mantle lithosphere
2013
Abstract The origin of the lithospheric mantle beneath accretionary orogens is enigmatic; although severe compression of the buoyant crust occurs, the mantle lithosphere is generally thought to be removed and returned to the convecting mantle. We suggest that during the accretion of oceanic arcs and small continental blocks in the Mediterranean region, and more generally throughout the whole Alpine–Himalayan orogenic belt, the mantle lithosphere is newly created and composed of intimately mixed peridotite and crustal material from the forearc region. Potassium-rich volcanic rocks emplaced sometimes more than 30 Ma after the formation of this lithosphere carry evidence for the presence of ex…
Nature and origin of eclogite xenoliths from kimberlites
2004
Abstract Eclogites from the Earth's mantle found in kimberlites provide important information on craton formation and ancient geodynamic processes because such eclogites are mostly Archean in age. They have equilibrated over a range of temperatures and pressures throughout the subcratonic mantle and some are diamond-bearing. Most mantle eclogites are bimineralic (omphacite and garnet) rarely with accessory rutiles. Contrary to their overall mineralogical simplicity, their broadly basaltic-picritic bulk compositions cover a large range and overlap with (but are not identical to) much younger lower grade eclogites from orogenic massifs. The majority of mantle eclogites have trace element geoc…
Between carbonatite and lamproite - Diamondiferous Torngat ultramafic lamprophyres formed by carbonate-fluxed melting of cratonic MARID-type metasomes
2008
Abstract New U–Pb perovskite ages reveal that diamondiferous ultramafic lamprophyre magmas erupted through the Archean crust of northern Labrador and Quebec (eastern Canada) between ca. 610 and 565 Ma, a period of strong rifting activity throughout contiguous Laurentia and Baltica. The observed Torngat carbonate-rich aillikite/carbonatite and carbonate-poor mela-aillikite dyke varieties show a large spread in Sr–Nd–Hf–Pb isotope ratios with pronounced correlations between isotope systems. An isotopically depleted component is identified solely within aillikites (87Sr/86Sri = 0.70323–0.70377; eNdi = +1.2–+1.8; eHfi = +1.4–+3.5; 206Pb/204Pbi = 18.2–18.5), whereas some aillikites and all mela-…
Highly siderophile elements (PGE, Re and Au) in mantle xenoliths from the West Eifel volcanic field (Germany)
2003
Abstract Mantle peridotite xenoliths ranging in modal composition between fertile lherzolites and modally metasomatized harzburgites, and magmatic pyroxenite xenoliths from the West Eifel and Vogelsberg volcanic fields (Germany) have been analyzed for their whole rock major and minor elements, six platinum-group elements PGE (PGE: Os, Ir, Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd), Re and Au, rare earth elements (REE), and several other trace elements (e.g., As, Ta). The bulk rock Ir concentrations range from 0.23 to 9.07 ng/g (total PGE contents range between 43.2 ng/g), exceeding the range previously found in mantle rocks. Two pyroxenite samples show large variabilities in their PGE concentrations, with Ir contents…
Petrogenesis of strongly alkaline primitive volcanic rocks at the propagating tip of the western branch of the East African Rift
2009
Abstract Strongly silica-undersaturated potassic lavas (kamafugites) and carbonatitic tuffs are characteristic of the Toro-Ankole volcanic field in southwestern Uganda, forming the youngest and most northward volcanics of the western branch of the East African Rift. Lavas contain exceptionally low SiO2 (31.8–42.8 wt.%), high CaO (up to 16.6 wt.%) and K2O (up to 7 wt.%). They exhibit moderately enriched correlated Nd (eNd − 0.1 to − 4.7) and Hf (eHf − 0.1 to − 8.8) isotope signatures, indicating time-integrated enrichment in incompatible elements in the source, attributed to mixing between two metasomatic assemblages, a phlogopite-rich MARID-type and a later carbonate-rich assemblage. The re…
Highly siderophile element geochemistry of the Earth's mantle: new data for the Lanzo (Italy) and Ronda (Spain) orogenic peridotite bodies
2000
Abstract Nine plagioclase/spinel lherzolites from the Lanzo (Italy) and Ronda (Spain) peridotite bodies were analysed for Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pd, and Au using a high-precision instrumental neutron activation (INA) procedure after NiS fire assay. Our data conform with previous observations that orogenic lherzolite massifs sampled domains of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) displaying a characteristic enrichment of Ru, Rh and Pd (i.e. the light platinum group elements; PGEs) over Os and Ir. The Pd/Ir, Rh/Ir and Ru/Ir ratios are superchondritic and very similar in both suites (2.46±0.32 vs. 2.42±0.21; 0.46±0.07 vs. 0.45±0.10; 1.99±0.14 vs. 2.25±0.25, respectively). Rhenium and gol…