Crystallization processes beneath the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (40–55°S), evidence for high-pressure initiation of crystallization

New major and trace element data are reported for a suite of basalts dredge sampled from the southern MAR (40.6-52.5°S) during cruise 9309 of the R/V Maurice Ewing and cruise 32 of the S.A. Agulhas (51-54.5°S). Samples range from aphyric to moderately porphyritic with plagioclase and olivine the dominant phenocryst and microphenocryst phases. Clinopyroxene occurs rarely as a phenocryst phase. Bulk rock and quench glass samples have major element compositions ranging from moderately primitive (Mg#=68.5) to evolved (Mg#=41.1), with a comparable range in incompatible (Zr=54-232 ppm; Nb=0.8-21 ppm) and highly compatible trace element (Ni=51-289 ppm; Cr=39-949 ppm) abundances. Incompatible trace element ratios (e.g., Zr/Nb=5.9-69; Y/Nb=0.88-29; (La/Sm)_N=0.48-2.9) indicate both enriched and depleted MORB occurring along this section of the MAR, agreeing with along-ridge radiogenic isotope ratio variations delineating compositional influences of the off-axis Discovery, and a so-called LOMU-component, and ridge-centered Shona mantle plumes (Douglass et al. 1999; Douglass and Schilling 2000). Major- and trace-element variations, particularly decreasing CaO/Al₂O₃ ratios and relatively constant Sc abundances with decreasing Mg# suggest crystallization of olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene in most of these basalts prior to eruption. Liquid-lines-of-descent, derived from forward modeling of various reasonable parental magma compositions at pressures between 1 atm-8 kbar, confirm clinopyroxene as an early crystallizing phase, along with olivine and plagioclase, and its pivotal role in the compositional evolution of these basalts. Pressures deduced using algorithms of Grove et al. 1992 and Michael and Cornell 1998 indicate crystallization beneath ridge segments unaffected by mantle plumes occurred predominately at depths of 3-6 kbar (10-20 km). Crystallization beneath ridge segments affected by the Discovery and Shona mantle plumes occurred over a larger pressure range (1 atm-~7 kbar), but predominantly at crustal depths (1 atm-3 kbar), possibly due to more constant magma fluxes and higher temperatures in the crust and lithosphere in these regions favoring the existence and longevity of subaxial magma chambers.