Search results for "Geophysics"
showing 10 items of 2645 documents
Traces of ancient mafic layers in the Tethys oceanic mantle
2014
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…
Dating of prograde metamorphic events deciphered from episodic zircon growth in rocks of the Dabie–Sulu UHP complex, China
2006
The timing of ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphism has been difficult to determine because of a lack of age constraints on crucial events, especially those occurring on the prograde path. New Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb age and rare-earth element (REE) data of zircon are presented for UHP metamorphic rocks (eclogite, garnet peridotite, garnet pyroxenite, jadeite quartzite and garnet gneiss) along the Dabie–Sulu UHP complex of China. With multiphase metamorphic textures and index mineral inclusions within zircon, the Dabie data define three episodes of eclogite-facies metamorphism, best estimated at 242.1 ± 0.4 Ma, 227.2 ± 0.8 Ma and 219.8 ± 0.8 Ma. Eclogite-faci…
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…
Geodynamic significance of ultramafic xenoliths from Eastern Serbia: Relics of sub-arc oceanic mantle?
2007
A suite of highly depleted peridotite xenoliths in East Serbian Palaeogene basanites represents the lithospheric mantle beneath the Balkan Peninsula. The xenoliths are harzburgites, clinopyroxene-poor lherzolites and rare dunites. They contain mostly 91), high Cr# in spinel (mostly 0.5–0.7), and by distinctively low Al2O3 contents in orthopyroxene (mostly 1–2 wt.%). They have experienced some mantle metasomatism which has slightly obscured their original composition. Nevertheless, the general characteristics of the xenoliths imply a composition which is significantly more depleted than most non-cratonic sub-continental mantle xenolith suites, as well as orogenic peridotites and abyssal peri…
Temporal–spatial evolution of low-SiO2 volcanism in the Pleistocene West Eifel volcanic field (West Germany) and relationship to upwelling asthenosph…
2015
Abstract The temporal–spatial evolution of low-SiO 2 lavas from the Pleistocene West Eifel volcanic field (Central European Volcanic Province) and linked petrogenetic variations are evaluated using 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age and geochemical data. Geochronological and petrological evidence is related to the physical structure of the previously established seismologically anomalous asthenosphere interpreted as thermally upwelling mantle (Eifel Plume). Lava flows >480 ka (Middle Pleistocene) occur exclusively in the NW of the volcanic field. After a time span of ca. 400 ka lacking significant activity, volcanism has migrated to the SE generating flows At melting depth >70 km of parental asthenospheric m…
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…
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…
A Reappraisal of Redox Melting in the Earth’s Mantle as a Function of Tectonic Setting and Time
2010
Redox melting refers to any process by which melt is generated by the contact of a rock with a fluid or melt with a contrasting oxidation state. It was originally applied to melting owing to the oxidation of reduced CH4and H2-bearing fluids in contact with more oxidized blocks in the mantle, particularly recycled crustal blocks.This oxidation mechanism causes an increase in the activity of H2O by the reaction of CH4 with O2, and the increased aH2O causes a rapid drop in the solidus temperature, and is here termed hydrous redox melting (HRM). Recently, a second redox melting mechanism (carbonate redox melting; CRM) has been discovered that operates in more oxidized conditions, and may post-d…
Two-Stage Origin of K-Enrichment in Ultrapotassic Magmatism Simulated by Melting of Experimentally Metasomatized Mantle
2019
The generation of strongly potassic melts in the mantle requires the presence of phlogopite in the melting assemblage, while isotopic and trace element analyses of ultrapotassic rocks frequently indicate the involvement of subducted crustal lithologies in the source. However, phlogopite-free experiments that focus on melting of sedimentary rocks and subsequent hybridization with mantle rocks at pressures of 1&ndash