Formation time of the big mantle wedge beneath eastern China and a new lithospheric thinning mechanism of the North China craton—Geodynamic effects of deep recycled carbon

High-resolution P wave tomography shows that the subducting Pacific slab is stagnant in the mantle transition zone and forms a big mantle wedge beneath eastern China. The Mg isotopic investigation of large numbers of mantle-derived volcanic rocks from eastern China has revealed that carbonates carried by the subducted slab have been recycled into the upper mantle and formed carbonated peridotite overlying the mantle transition zone, which becomes the sources of various basalts. These basalts display light Mg isotopic compositions(δ26 Mg = –0.60‰ to –0.30‰) and relatively low87 Sr/86 Sr ratios(0.70314–0.70564) with ages ranging from 106 Ma to Quaternary, suggesting that their mantle source had been hybridized by recycled magnesite with minor dolomite and their initial melting occurred at 300-360 km in depth. Therefore, the carbonate metasomatism of their mantle source should have occurred at the depth larger than 360 km, which means that the subducted slab should be stagnant in the mantle transition zone forming the big mantle wedge before 106 Ma. This timing supports the rollback model of subducting slab to form the big mantle wedge. Based on high P-T experiment results, when carbonated silicate melts produced by partial melting of carbonated peridotite was raising and reached the bottom(180–120 km in depth) of cratonic lithosphere in North China, the carbonated silicate melts should have 25–18 wt% CO2 contents, with lower Si O2 and Al2 O3 contents, and higher Ca O/Al2 O3 values, similar to those of nephelinites and basanites, and have higher εNdvalues(2 to 6). The carbonatited silicate melts migrated upward and metasomatized the overlying lithospheric mantle, resulting in carbonated peridotite in the bottom of continental lithosphere beneath eastern China. As the craton lithospheric geotherm intersects the solidus of carbonated peridotite at 130 km in depth, the carbonated peridotite in the bottom of cratonic lithosphere should be partially melted, thus its physical characters are similar to the asthenosphere and it could be easily replaced by convective mantle. The newly formed carbonated silicate melts will migrate upward and metasomatize the overlying lithospheric mantle. Similarly, such metasomatism and partial melting processes repeat, and as a result the cratonic lithosphere in North China would be thinning and the carbonated silicate partial melts will be transformed to high-Si O2 alkali basalts with lower εNdvalues(to-2). As the lithospheric thinning goes on,initial melting depth of carbonated peridotite must decrease from 130 km to close 70 km, because the craton geotherm changed to approach oceanic lithosphere geotherm along with lithospheric thinning of the North China craton. Consequently, the interaction between carbonated silicate melt and cratonic lithosphere is a possible mechanism for lithosphere thinning of the North China craton during the late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Based on the age statistics of low δ26 Mg basalts in eastern China, the lithospheric thinning processes caused by carbonated metasomatism and partial melting in eastern China are limited in a timespan from 106 to25 Ma, but increased quickly after 25 Ma. Therefore, there are two peak times for the lithospheric thinning of the North China craton: the first peak in 135-115 Ma simultaneously with the cratonic destruction, and the second peak caused by interaction between carbonated silicate melt and lithosphere mainly after 25 Ma. The later decreased the lithospheric thickness to about70 km in the eastern part of North China craton.     

由包体推导的河北汉诺坝下地壳-上地幔地温线及其地质意义

通过对采自河北汉诺坝玄武岩中的下地壳和上地幔包体的详细研究 ,建立了本区下地壳—上地幔地温线。该地温线高于大洋地温线和古老地盾地温线 ,接近克拉通边缘的地温线 ,符合该区的大地构造环境。由该地温线建立的下地壳—上地幔地质结构剖面表明 ,该区下地壳主要由不同类型的麻粒岩相岩石组成 ,其化学成分以镁铁质为主 ,深度范围为 2 5～ 4 2km。上地幔由超镁铁质的二辉橄榄岩组成 ,在尖晶石二辉橄榄岩和石榴石二辉橄榄岩之间有一过渡层。由地温线确定的壳幔边界位于 4 2km附近 ,与地震资料确定的莫霍面一致 ,但在壳幔边界之上的下地壳底部有下地壳麻粒岩和超镁铁质岩的互层。这一现象可以解释在下地壳底部常见的层状反射层。该区岩石圈底界大约在 95km ,其下的软流层仍由石榴石二辉橄榄岩组成     

Mineral chemistry of spinel peridotite xenoliths from Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, and its implications for the paleogeotherm of the uppermost mantle

Abstract   The mantle-derived xenoliths entrained in the Pliocene basanite from Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, are spinel lherzolites and spinel harzburgites. The overall compositional range of the Baengnyeong xenoliths matches that of the post-Archean xenoliths of lithospheric mantle origin from eastern China, but without any compositional evidence for a refractory Archean mantle root. Mineral compositions of the xenoliths have been used to estimate the equilibrium temperatures and pressures, and to construct a paleogeothermal gradient of the source region. The xenolith-derived paleogeotherm is constrained from about 820°C at 7.3 kbar to 1000°C at 20.6 kbar. Like those from the post-Archean Chinese xenoliths of lithospheric mantle origin, the Baengnyeong geotherm is considerably elevated relative to the conductive models at the depth of the crust–mantle boundary, reflecting a thermal perturbation probably related to lithospheric thinning. There is no significant P / T difference between harzburgite and lherzolite, which suggests that the harzburgites are interlayered with lherzolites within the depth interval beneath Baengnyeong Island.     

Geothermal profile and crust-mantle transition beneath east-central Queensland: Volcanology, xenolith petrology and seismic data

Geothermobarometry of garnet granulite and garnet websterite xenoliths in basalts from numerous localities in east-central Queensland gives P-T points that fall along the geotherm previously defined for southeastern Australia. This elevated geotherm is ascribed to the advective transport of heat by Tertiary-Recent magmas ponded at the crust-mantle boundary. The lower crust in this region consists dominantly of mafic granulites, representing frozen basaltic melts and cumulates. Spinel lherzolite becomes a dominant rock type at depths of ca. 30 km, and persists, interlayered with pyroxenites, to depths of ca. 55 km. Seismic reflection profiles show a “layered lower crust” between depths of 20 and 36 km depth. The lithologically defined crust-mantle boundary lies within this zone, at least 6 km above the seismically defined Moho. This interpretation is consistent with the observed velocity (V_p) gradient downward through the layered zone. The constructed geotherm implies that the bottom of the lithosphere beneath eastern Australia is shallower than ca. 100 km. This makes it unlikely that the diamonds of eastern Australia are derived from local intrusions, unless these are > 200 Ma old.     

活动海岭俯冲与岛弧火山活动的热模拟研究

为解释活动海岭的俯冲会造成岛弧火山活动的间断这一现象,本文采用有限单元法对活动海岭俯冲的热演化过程进行了模拟计算．一般情况下,摩擦剪切生热使岛弧下100km左右深度形成地温反转,俯冲板片海洋地壳内角门岩等含水矿物脱水,释放的水进入其上覆板块,降低了地幔岩石的熔点,使热的地幔楔状体内发生部分熔融,形成岛弧火山活动．高温的活动海岭俯冲时不再出现这种温度反转,俯冲板片在较浅深度达到较高温度而脱水,水进入上覆相对较冷的地幔楔状体不能造成熔融,因此岛弧火山活动会中断．     

Discussion of recent papers on carbonated peridotite, bearing on mantle metasomatism and magmatism: response

The solidus temperature for peridotite-CO₂ drops sharply within a narrow temperature interval, with increasing pressure, to an invariant point where dolomite becomes stable at the solidus. This geometry presents a barrier to some volatile-charged magmas rising through the lithosphere, with many petrological applications. The phase relationships are based on results in the model system CaOMgOSiO₂CO₂, and peridotite-CO₂H₂O. Two published sets of experimental results for the solidus of amphibole-dolomite-peridotite are here interpreted in terms of the topology of the system peridotite-CO₂H₂O, with the conclusion that the two results yield quite different values for the pressure of the significant invariant point in peridotite-CO₂: 17 kbar or 27 kbar (equivalent to 30 km in the upper mantle). Better definition of this pressure, and clarification of the topology of the intersecting stability fields for dolomite, amphibole and phlogopite with the peridotite-vapor solidus, are essential for understanding magmatic and metasomatic processes in the lithosphere, and the petrogenesis of alkaline magmas and associated carbonatites.     

Peridotite-CO2-H2O and the low-velocity zone

The properties of the seismic low-velocity zone are consistent with incipient melting of mantle peridotite. Vapor-absent melting of amphibole-peridotite has been used to model the low-velocity zone, but evidence that CO₂ exists in the upper mantle indicates that peridotite-CO₂-H₂O would be a better model. The divariant solidus surface for peridodite-CO₂-H₂O is traversed by a series of univariant lines marking the intersections of divariant subsolidus reactions involving dolomite or magnesite, amphibole, or phlogopite (other hydrous minerals are neglected in this treatment), or combinations of these. The vapor phase compositions are buffered to specific values, which limits the range of vapor compositions that can coexist with peridotite at various pressures. Below about 30 kbar, the vapor phase is buffered by the melting of amphibole-peridotite, with composition ranging from H₂O to high CO₂/H₂O. Above about 25 kbar, the vapor phase is buffered by the melting of dolomite-peridotite, with composition ranging from CO₂ to high H₂O/CO₂ at pressures above 30 kbar. The buffered curve for phlogopite-peridotite intersects the dolomite-peridotite curve, generating another line for phlogopite-dolomite-peridotite; the strong buffering capacity of dolomite forces the vapor on this line to high H₂O/CO₂. Near the buffered curve for the solidus of partly carbonated peridotite there is a temperature maximum on the peridotite-vapor solidus surface. On the CO₂ side of the maximum, above 26 kbar, CO₂/H₂O is greater in liquid than in vapor; on the H₂O side of this maximum, and at all pressures below 26 kbar, CO₂/H₂O is greater in vapor than in liquid. The suboccanic low-velocity zone is caused by incipient melting of amphibole-peridotite in the presence of vapor with high CO₂/H₂O, with generation of forsterite-normative liquid. The subcontinental low-velocity zone, where present, is probably caused by incipient melting of dolomite-peridotite, or phlogopite-dolomite-peridotite, either with H₂O-rich vapor or without vapor, with the generation of CO₂-rich, alkalic, SiO₂-poor liquid (larnite-normative) that in extreme conditions may be carbonatitic.     

The thermal state and composition of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Leizhou Peninsula, South China

Two localities on the Leizhou Peninsula, southern China (Yingfengling and Tianyang basaltic volcanoes) yield a wide variety of mantle-derived xenoliths including Cr-diopside series mantle wall rocks and two distinct types of Al-augite series pyroxenites. Metapyroxenites have re-equilibrated granoblastic microstructures whereas pyroxenites with igneous microstructures have not thermally equilibrated to the mantle conditions. An abundant suite of megacrysts and megacrystic aggregates (including garnet, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, ilmenite and apatite) is interpreted as the pegmatitic equivalents of the igneous pyroxenite suite. Layered spinel lherzolite/spinel websterite xenoliths were formed by metamorphic differentiation caused by mantle deformation, inferred to be related to lithospheric thinning. Some metapyroxenites have garnet websterite assemblages that allow calculation of their mantle equilibration temperatures and pressures and the construction of the first xenolith geotherm for the southernmost China lithosphere. Heat flow data measured at the surface in this region yield model conductive geotherms (using average crustal conductivity values) that are consistent with the xenolith geotherm for the mantle. The calculated mean surface heat flux is 110 mW/m². This high heat flux and the high geotherm are consistent with young lithospheric thinning in southern China, and with recent tomography results showing shallow low-velocity zones in this region. The xenolith geotherm allows the construction of a lithospheric rock type section for the Leizhou region; it shows that the crust–mantle boundary lies at about 30 km, consistent with seismic data, and that the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary lies at about 100 km.     

Mantle process beneath Philippine Sea back-arc spreading ridges: A synthesis of peridotite petrology and tectonics

Abstract In order to obtain a general view of the mantle process beneath a back‐arc basin spreading ridge, the diversity of peridotite petrology and tectonic occurrences in two back‐arc basin spreading ridges from the Philippine Sea were examined: the Parece Vela Rift and the Mariana Trough. The Parece Vela Basin spreading ridge (Parece Vela Rift) was a physically fast/intermediate‐spreading ridge, although many tectono‐magmatic features resemble those of slow‐ to ultraslow‐spreading ridges. Two unusual features of the Parece Vela Rift further demonstrate the uniqueness of the ridge: full‐axial development of oceanic core complexes and exposure of mantle peridotite at segment midpoints. The Parece Vela Rift yields a lithological assemblage of residual but still fertile lherzolite/harzburgite, plagioclase‐bearing harzburgite and dunite; similar assemblages are reported from the equatorial Mid‐Atlantic Ridge at the Romanche Fracture Zone and the ultraslow‐spreading ridges from the Indian and Arctic Oceans. The tectono‐magmatic characteristics of the Parece Vela Rift suggest that diffuse porous melt flow and pervasive melt–mantle interaction were the important mantle processes there. Globally, this ‘porous melt flow‐type’ mantle process is likely to occur beneath a segment midpoint of the ridge having a thick lithosphere, typically an ultraslow‐spreading ridge. In contrast, the Mariana Trough is a typical slow‐spreading ridge, exposing mantle peridotite at segment ends. The Mariana Trough yields a lithological assemblage of residual harzburgite and veined harzburgite, a common assemblage among the global abyssal peridotite suite. The tectono‐magmatic characteristics of the Mariana Trough suggest that channeled melt/fluid flow and limited melt–mantle interaction are the important mantle processes there, because of the colder wall‐rock peridotite in the segment end. This ‘channeled melt flow‐type’ mantle process is likely to occur in the shallow lithospheric mantle at the segment ends of any spreading ridges.     

The structure of thermal convection and geotherms beneath a continent and ocean

The formation of the thermal cross section of the lithosphere and mantle upon the interaction between the mantle convection and the immobile continent surrounded by the oceanic lithosphere is studied by numerical modeling. The convective temperature and velocity fields and then the averaged geotherms for subcontinental and suboceanic regions up to the boundary with the core are calculated from the solution of convection equations with a jump in viscosity in the continental zone. Using the experimental data on the solidus temperature in the rocks of the upper mantle, the average thickness of the continental and oceanic lithosphere is estimated at 190 and 30 km, respectively. The effect of a hot spot formed in the subcontinental upper mantle at a depth of 250–500 km, which has not been previously noted, is revealed. Although the temperature in this zone is typically assumed to be close to adiabatic, the calculations show that it is actually higher than adiabatic by up to 200°C. The physical mechanism responsible for this effect is associated with the accumulation of convective heat beneath the thermally insulating layer of the continental lithosphere. The revealed anomalies can be important in studying the phase and mineral transformations at the base of the lithosphere and in the regional geodynamical reconstructions.     

Podiform chromitites in the lherzolite-dominant mantle section of the Isabela ophiolite, the Philippines

Abstract The Isabela ophiolite, the Philippines, is characterized by a lherzolite‐dominant mantle section, which was probably formed beneath a slow‐spreading mid‐ocean ridge. Several podiform chromitites occur in the mantle section and grade into harzburgite to lherzolite. The chromitites show massive, nodular, layered and disseminated textures. Clinopyroxene (±orthopyroxene/amphibole) inclusions within chromian spinel (chromite hereafter) are commonly found in the massive‐type chromitites. Large chromitites are found in relatively depleted harzburgite hosts having high‐Cr? (Cr/(Cr + Al) atomic ratio = ～0.5) chromite. Light rare earth element (LREE) contents of clinopyroxenes in harzburgites near the chromitites are higher than those in lherzolite with low‐Cr? chromite, whereas heavy REE (HREE) contents of clinopyroxenes are lower in harzburgite than in lherzolite. The harzburgite near the chromitites is not a residual peridotite after simple melt extraction from lherzolite but is formed by open‐system melting (partial melting associated with influx of primitive basaltic melt of deeper origin). Clinopyroxene inclusions within chromite in chromitites exhibit convex‐shaped REE patterns with low HREE and high LREE (+Sr) abundances compared to the host peridotites. The chromitites were formed from a hybridized melt enriched with Cr, Si and incompatible elements (Na, LREE, Sr and H₂O). The melt was produced by mixing of secondary melts after melt–rock interaction and the primitive basaltic melts in large melt conduits, probably coupled with a zone‐refining effect. The Cr? of chromites in the chromitites ranges from 0.65 to 0.75 and is similar to those of arc‐related magmas. The upper mantle section of the Isabela ophiolite was initially formed beneath a slow‐spreading mid‐ocean ridge, later introduced by arc‐related magmatisms in response to a switch in tectonic setting during its obduction at a convergent margin.     

Implications of melting for stabilisation of the lithosphere and heat loss in the Archaean

The increased depth and volume of melting induced in a higher temperature Archaean mantle controls the stability of the lithosphere, heat loss rates and the thickness of the oceanic crust. The relationship between density distributions in oceanic lithosphere and the depth of melting at spreading centres is investigated by calculating the mineral proportions and densities of residual mantle depleted by extraction of melt fractions. The density changes related to compositional gradients are comparable to those produced by thermal effects for lithosphere formed from a mantle which is 200°C or more hotter than modern upper mantle. If Archaean continental crust formed initially above oceanic lithosphere, the compositional density gradients may be sufficient to preserve a thick Archaean continental lithosphere within which the Archaean age diamonds are preserved. The amount of heat advected by melts at mid-ocean ridges today is small but heat advected by melting becomes proportionally more important as higher mantle temperatures lead to a greater volume of melt and as the rate of production of oceanic plates increases. Archaean tectonics could have been dominated by spreading rates 2–3 times greater than now and with mantle temperatures between ca. 1600°C and 1800°C at the depth of the solidus. Mid-ocean ridge melting would produce a relatively thick but light refractory lithosphere on which continents could form, protected from copious volcanism and high mantle temperatures.     

Geothermal gradient of the upper mantle beneath Jeju Island, Korea: Evidence from mantle xenoliths

Abstract Ultramafic xenoliths found in alkali basalts from Jeju Island, Korea are mostly spinel lherzolites accompanied by subordinate amount of spinel harzburgites and pyroxenites. The combination of results from a two-pyroxene geothermometer and Ca-in-olivine geobarometer yields temperature–pressure (T–P) estimates for spinel peridotites that fall in experimentally determined spinel lherzolite field in CaO-Fe-MgO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂-Cr₂O₃ (CFMASCr) system. These T–P data sets have been used to construct the Quaternary Jeju Island geotherm, which defines a locus from about 13 kbar at 880°C to 26 kbar at 1040°C. The geothermal gradient of Jeju Island is greater than that of the conventional conductive models, and may be as a result of a thermal perturbation by the heat input into the lithospheric mantle via the passage and emplacement of magma. Spinel–lherzolite is the main constituent rock-type of the lithospheric mantle beneath Jeju Island. Pyroxenites may be intercalated in peridotites at similar depth and temperature as re-equilibrated veins or lenses.     

The big mantle wedge and decratonic gold deposits

The Circum-Pacific subduction zone is a famous gold metallogenic domain in the world, with two important gold metallogenic provinces, the North China Craton and Nevada, which are related to the destruction of the North China Craton and the Wyoming Craton, respectively. Their ore-forming fluids were possibly derived from the stagnant slab in the mantle transition zone. The oceanic lithospheric mantle usually contains serpentine layers up to thousands of meters thick. During plate subduction, serpentine is dehydrated at depths of 200 km and transformed into high-pressure hydrous minerals, known as Phases A to E, which carries water to the depth of 300 km. The overlying big mantle wedge is hydrated during the breakdown of these hydrous facies in the mantle transition zone. The dehydration of the subducted slab in the big mantle wedge releases sulfur-rich fluid, which extracts gold and other chalcophile elements in the surrounding rocks, forming gold-rich fluid. Because the cratonic geotherm is lower than the water-saturated solidus line of lherzolite, the fluid cannot trigger partial melting. Instead, it induces metasomatism and forms pargasite and other water-bearing minerals when it migrates upward to depths of less than 100 km in the cratonic lithospheric mantle, resulting in a water-and gold-rich weak layer. During the destruction of craton, the weak layer is destabilized, releasing gold-bearing fluids that accelerate the destruction. The ore-forming fluids migrate along the shallow weak zone and are accumulated at shallow depths, and subsequently escape along deep faults during major tectonic events, leading to explosive gold mineralization. The ore-forming fluids are rich in ferrous iron, which releases hydrogen at low pressure through iron hydrolysis. Therefore, decratonic gold deposits are often reduced deposits.     

Ukinrek Maars, Alaska, I. April 1977 eruption sequence, petrology and tectonic setting

During ten days of phreatomagmatic activity in early April 1977, two maars formed 13 km behind the Aleutian arc near Peulik volcano on the Alaska Peninsula. They have been named “Ukinrek Maars”, meaning “two holes in the ground” in Yupik Eskimo. The western maar formed at the northwestern end of a low ridge within the first three days and is up to 170 m in diameter and 35 m in depth. The eastern maar formed during the next seven days 600 m east of West Maar at a lower elevation in a shallow saddle on the same ridge and is more circular, up to 300 m in diameter and 70 m in depth. The maars formed in terrain that was heavily glaciated in Pleistocene times. The groundwater contained in the underlying till and silicic volcanics from nearby Peulik volcano controlled the dominantly phreatomagmatic course of the eruption.During the eruptions, steam and ash clouds reached maximum heights of about 6 km and a thin blanket of fine ash was deposited north and east of the vents up to a distance of at least 160 km. Magma started to pool on the floor of East Maar after four days of intense phreatomagmatic activity.The new melt is a weakly undersaturated alkali olivine basalt (Ne = 1.2%) showing some transitional character toward high-alumina basalts. The chemistry, an anomaly in the tholeitic basalt-andesite-dominated Aleutian arc, suggests that the new melt is primitive, generated at a depth of 80 km or greater by a low degree of partial melting of garnet peridotite mantle with little subsequent fractionization during transport.The Pacific plate subduction zone lies at a depth of 150 km beneath the maars. Their position appears to be tectonically controlled by a major regional fault, the Bruin Bay fault, and its intersection with cross-arc structural features. We favor a model for the emplacement of the Ukinrek Maars that does not link the Ukinrek conduit to the plumbing system of nearby Peulik volcano. The Ukinrek eruptions probably represent a genetically distinct magma pulse originating at asthenospheric depths beneath the continental lithosphere.     

Anhydrous and water-saturated melting experiments of an olivine andesite from Mt Yakushi-Yama, northeastern Shikoku, Japan

Abstract Melting experiments have been carried out on an olivine andesite of Mt Yakushi-Yama from the Miocene Setouchi volcanic belt in northeastern Shikoku, Japan. This andesite has been characterized by a low ratio of FeO*/Mg° (= 0.78). Phase relations have been determined within the pressure range of 2.8 to 19.3 kbar at 1000-1300°C under anhydrous and water-saturated conditions. At pressures less than 8.8 kbar, olivine is a liquidus phase. Orthopyroxene appears on the liquidus at 9.3 kbar under the anhydrous conditions. The multiple saturation point rises up to 17.5 kbar for water-saturated experiments. The andesite melt coexists with olivine and orthopyroxene just below the liquidus at 8.8–9.3 kbar and 1230°C for dry conditions, and at 17.5 kbar and 1060°C under water-saturated conditions. These experimental results indicate that the Yakushi-Yama olivine andesite magma could coexist with a harzburgitic mantle at depths between about 30 and 60 km, and at temperatures between 1060 and 1230°C. Experimental data also suggest a possibility that a high magnesian andesite magma would be generated by a direct partial melting of the uppermost harzburgitic mantle under anhydrous conditions.     

Deccan plume,lithosphere rifting,and volcanism in Kutch,India

Kutch (northwest India) experienced lithospheric thinning due to rifting and tholeiitic and alkalic volcanism related to the Deccan Traps K/T boundary event. Alkalic lavas, containing mantle xenoliths, form plug-like bodies that are aligned along broadly east–west rift faults. The mantle xenoliths are dominantly spinel wehrlite with fewer spinel lherzolite. Wehrlites are inferred to have formed by reaction between transient carbonatite melts and lherzolite forming the lithosphere. The alkalic lavas are primitive (Mg# = 64–72) relative to the tholeiites (Mg# = 38–54), and are enriched in incompatible trace elements. Isotope and trace element compositions of the tholeiites are similar to what are believed to be the crustally contaminated Deccan tholeiites from elsewhere in India. In terms of Hf, Nd, Sr, and Pb isotope ratios, all except two alkalic basalts plot in a tight cluster that largely overlap the Indian Ridge basalts and only slightly overlap the field of Reunion lavas. This suggests that the alkalic magmas came largely from the asthenosphere mixed with Reunion-like source that welled up beneath the rifted lithosphere. The two alkalic outliers have an affinity toward Group I kimberlites and may have come from an old enriched (metasomatized) asthenosphere. We present a new model for the metasomatism and rifting of the Kutch lithosphere, and magma generation from a CO₂-rich lherzolite mantle. In this model the earliest melts are carbonatite, which locally metasomatized the lithosphere. Further partial melting of CO₂-rich lherzolite at about 2–2.5 GPa from a mixed source of asthenosphere and Reunion-like plume material produced the alkalic melts. Such melts ascended along deep lithospheric rift faults, while devolatilizing and exploding their way up through the lithosphere. Tholeiites may have been generated from the main plume head further south of Kutch.     

Heavy REE are compatible in clinopyroxene on the spinel lherzolite solidus

Trace element partitioning between clinopyroxene and melt was investigated experimentally under conditions appropriate to near-solidus melting of spinel lherzolite in the upper mantle. Starting material was a high-Na, Al basalt glass previously shown to be a very low degree (1%) partial melt of spinel lherzolite at 1.5 GPa, 1269°C [Robinson et al., Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., in press]. The experiment was run with a spinel seed under sub-liquidus conditions (1255°C) to ensure clinopyroxene crystallisation. The experimental clinopyroxene composition is consistent with equilibrium close to the solidus of fertile mantle lherzolite, most notably in its high contents of Ca-Tschermak's (CaTs) molecule (22 mol %) and Na₂O (1.4 wt%). Clinopyroxene–melt partition coefficients (D) for a wide range of trace elements, determined by SIMS analysis of run products, differ markedly from those reported in other studies under conditions less appropriate to mantle melting. In particular partition coefficients for the heavy rare earth elements (Gd–Lu) are greater than unity (e.g. D_Lu=1.45), and the critical partitioning parameter, (D_Sm/D_Nd)×(D_Hf/D_Lu), is 0.68. These features, which arise due to the high CaTs content of the clinopyroxene, dramatically reduce the required involvement of garnet in the melting region beneath mid-ocean ridges.     

Generation of komatiite magma and gravitational differentiation in the deep upper mantle

The densities of silicate liquids with basic, picritic, and ultrabasic compositions have been estimated from the melting curves of minerals at high pressures. Silicate liquids generated by partial melting of the upper mantle are denser than olivine and pyroxenes at pressures higher than 70 kbar, and garnet is the only phase which is denser than the liquid at pressures from 70 kbar to at least 170 kbar. In this pressure range, garnet and some fraction of liquid separate from ascending partially molten diapirs. It is therefore suggested that aluminium-depleted komatiite with a high Ca/OAl₂O₃ ratio may be derived from diapirs which originated in the deep upper mantle at pressures from 70 kbar to at least 140 kbar (200–400 km in depth), where selective separation of pyropic garnet occurs effectively. On the other hand, aluminium-undepleted komatiite is probably derived from diapirs originating at shallower depths (< 200 km). Enrichment of pyropic garnet is expected at depths greater than 200 km by selective separation of garnet from ascending diapirs. The 200-km discontinuity in the seismic wave velocity profile may be explained by a relatively high concentration of pyropic garnet at depths greater than 200 km.