The structure and evolution of the Red Sea and the nature of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Ethiopian Rift Junction

Some highlights of a discussion meeting held at the Royal Society of London from 27 to 29 March 1969 are presented.     

Petrology and Geochemistry of Basalts from the Red Sea Axial Rift at 18? North

Detailed studies by submersible were carried out in the axialzone of the Red Sea Rift near 18?N during the Soviet Red Seaexpedition of the Oceanological Institute of the Academy ofSciences (December 1979–March 1980). The initial bathymetric,magnetic and seismic surveys established the general organizationof the symmetric tectonic steps (1–3) descending towardsthe axial rift. The 4–5 km wide inner floor of the riftwas explored during 21 dives. It is occupied by 100–300m high, young pillowed volcanoes, isolated or grouped to formelongated hills, frequently cut by open fissures except in thezone of most recent extrusion. The 42 samples collected are typical plagioclase ? olivine ?clinopyroxene ? spinel, more or less porphyritic mid-ocean ridgebasalts whose compositions were mainly controlled by polybaricfractionation of plagioclase, olivine and minor clinopyroxene.They have been separated into porphyritic and sub-aphyric groupsusing modes and mineralogical criteria. Mineral-liquid equilibria,crystal zonation, and modal proportions indicate some magmamixing but probably only of closely related magma batches withineach described group, as can occur inside a single magma chamber.Crystal accumulation is believed to have played a significantrole in only a few porphyritic samples. Three sub-groups (from less to more evolved; (a) FeO^*/MgO<1?22;(b) 1?16<FeO^*/MgO < 1?48; and (c)FeO^*/MgO>1?49) weredistinguished on the basis of glass and whole-rock major elementchemistry. Glass compositions follow the multisaturated cotectic-likecurve for MORB-type basalts and show a general evolution verycomparable to what is observed on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near36?N, but arc less diverse than in the FAMOUS area. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr,¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd, and ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb data for 4 samples show strongsimilarities to those from the Mid-Atlantic and East PacificRidges, and indicate no continental contamination despite thefact that they have been produced during recent continentalbreak-up and ocean opening. ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb values, Th/Ta vs. Th/Tbcorrelations, and rare earth element patterns allow recognitionof three different groups of samples, indicating that the RedSea Rift near 18?N is fed by a heterogeneous mantle source.The chondrite-normalized LREE.     

Structural position of the Pleistocene Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site in the Dead Sea Rift zone

Newly discovered outcrops of the middle Pleistocene Benot Ya'aqov Formation are strongly disturbed due to recent tectonic activity along the Dead Sea Rift. The lacustrine-fluviatile sediments of this formation comprise the littoral facies of a paleo-lake that occupied the adjacent Hula Basin. Acheulian artifacts, found embedded in the formation, have typical African characteristics. The geographical position of the site (the northern extension of the East African Red Sea Rift System) is important for understanding hominid diffusion from Africa to Eurasia.     

The evolution of marine evaporitic brines in inland basins: The Jordan-Dead Sea Rift valley

Marine-evaporitic brines frequently display Na, Cl and Br concentrations that significantly deviate from seawater evaporation paths, yielding markedly conflicting degrees of evaporation calculated for a specific brine. Here we present 493 new and 33 previously reported analyses of Ca-chloridic waters of Neogene age from the Dead Sea Rift (DSR) valley to explain such offsets. The DSR brines plot along an almost perfect mixing line (R² = 0.990) on a Br/Cl-Na/Cl diagram, extending between two end members A and B. Points A and B are located at Na/Cl = 0.804 and Br/Cl = 0.00193, and at Na/Cl = 0.00773 and Br/Cl = 0.0155, respectively, within the halite and bischofite stability fields.Brines A and B originated in a dual-mode evaporation basin. Brine A formed under the classic lagoon scenario (mode A), with seawater inflow and brine outflow at steady state. Occasional drops in water level, imposed by climatic or tectonic causes, resulted in outflow cutoff and in rapid concentration buildup. The second mode (B) initiated upon equilibration of the activity of water in the brine with the overlying relative humidity, resulting in composition and salinity approaching that of brine B, sustaining it until the next reversal to mode A.Thick evaporite deposits inhibited infiltration of brines A and B into the subsurface terrain, a process that was enabled only when the brine reached the permeable carbonate rock rim and border faults of the basin. Hence, brines that formed during the relatively short shifts from mode A to mode B could not penetrate into the deep subsurface, and bittern minerals that were formed during the frequent mode shifts were dissolved and flushed out into the sea upon the next resumption of outflow.The proposed model accounts for the deviations of brines from the marine evaporitic evolution curve by brine mixing, rather than due to a change in ocean chemistry. It also explains the absence of bittern minerals in the thick halite and gypsum/anhydrite succession, and the compositional gap between the widely different end member hypersaline fluids. This model applies directly to the studied DSR brines and evaporites, but it may be relevant to other inland evaporitic basins.     

Structural characteristics and evolution of the South Yellow Sea Basin since Indosinian

Based on the seismic data gathered in past years and the correlation between the sea and land areas of the Lower Yangtze Platform, the structural characteristics of the South Yellow Sea Basin since the Indosinian tectonic movement is studied in this paper. Three stages of structural deformation can be distinguished in the South Yellow Sea Basin since the Indosinian. The first stage, Late Indosinian to Early Yanshanian, was dominated by foreland deformation including both the uplifting and subsidence stages under an intensively compressional environment. The second stage, which is called the Huangqiao Event in the middle Yanshanian, was a change for stress fields from compression to extension. While in the third stage (the Sanduo Event) in the Late Himalayan, the basin developed a depression in the Neogene-Quaternary after rifting in the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene. The long-time evolution controlled 3 basin formation stages from a foreland basin, then a fault basin to a final depression basin. In conclusion, since the Indosinian, the South Yellow Sea Basin has experienced compressional fold and thrust, collisional orogen, compressional and tensional pulsation, strike-slip, extensional fault block and inversion structures, compression and convergence. The NE, NEE, nearly EW and NW trending structures developed in the basin. From west to east, the structural trend changed from NEE to near EW to NW. While from north to south, they changed from NEE to near EW with a strong-weak-strong zoning sequence. Vertically, the marine and terrestrial facies basins show a “seesaw” pattern with fold and thrust in the early stages, which is strong in the north and weak in the south and an extensional fault in later stages, which is strong in the north and weak in the south. In the marine facies basin, thrust deformation is more prevailing in the upper structural layer than that in the lower layer. The tectonic mechanism in the South Yellow Sea Basin is mainly affected by the collision between the Yangtze and North China Block, while the stress environment of large-scale strike-slip faults was owing to subduction of the Paleo-Pacific plate. The southern part of the Laoshan uplift is a weak deformation zone as well as a stress release zone, and the Meso-Paleozoic had been weakly reformed in later stages. The southern part of the Laoshan uplift is believed, therefore, to be a promising area for oil and gas exploration.     

Structural evolution of the '41st parallel zone': Tyrrhenian Sea

The present study is based on the interpretation of more than 1300 km of 16 kJ sparker seismic profiles recorded in July 1990, during the Cruise T-41 of the Geological Institute of Urbino. The investigated area extends along the 41st parallel in the central Tyrrhenian Sea between the northern Sardinian margin to the west and the Latium–Campanian margin to the east. This zone, situated on continental crust, marks the boundary between the northern Tyrrhenian and the southern Tyrrhenian domains. A kinematic reconstruction is presented, based on the age-dating of the recognized structures (i.e. normal faults, reverse faults, anticline and flower structures). The evolution of the ‘41st parallel zone’ can be described in terms of polyphase tectonics characterized by different orientations of the stress field during time. The direction of the normal fault-trends, turned clockwise, striking NE–SW in the late Tortonian–Messinian, E–W in the early Pliocene, NNW–SSE in the late Pliocene and N–S during the Quaternary. The concurrence of compressional and strike-slip deformations suggests oblique shear motions across the 41st parallel. The occurrence of late Pliocene–Quaternary tectonic activity in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, locally characterized by inversion tectonics, suggests active mechanisms (intraplate compression?) superimposed on the post-rift subsidence.     

Architecture and early evolution of the Oslo Rift

A revised assessment of architecture and pre-rift fabric connections of the Oslo Rift has been undertaken and linked to a new appraisal of observations and data related to the initial phase of the rift evolution. In addition to half-graben segmentation, accommodation zones and transfer faults are readily identified in the linking sectors between the two main grabens and between graben segments. Axial flexures are proposed between facing half-grabens. The accommodation zones were generally sites of volcanism during rifting. Pre-rift tectonic structures played an influential role in the rift location and development. The deviant N-S axis of the Vestfold graben segment is viewed as related to pre-rift structural control through faults and shear zones. This area was probably a site of Proterozoic/Palaeozoic crustal and lithospheric attenuation.

Field evidence suggests that the rift started as a crustal sag with no apparent surface faulting in a flat and low-lying land at a time about 305–310 Ma. Volcanism, sub-surface sill intrusion and faulting started about simultaneously some time after the initial sag (300–305 Ma). Faulting and basaltic volcanism were initially localized to transfer faults along accommodation zones and a NNW-SSE transtensional zone along the eastern margin of the incipient Vestfold graben segment. This transtensional zone was probably created by right-lateral simple shear tracing pre-rift structures in response to a regional stress field with the tensional axis normal and the maximum compressional axis parallel to the NNE-SSW-trending rift axis.     

Red Sea related history of extension and magmatism in the Jizan area (Southwest Saudi Arabia): indication for simple-shear during early Red Sea rifting

The tectonic and magmatic history of the Jizan coastal plain of the Red Sea (Tihama Asir) in Southwest Saudi Arabia is dominated by SW-NE extension. This extension manifests itself by a basic dike swarm and several generations of normal faults that trend roughly NW-SE. The oldest synrift deposits are non-marine clastics and bimodal volcanics of the Jizan Group, which were intruded by basic dikes, gabbros and granophyres of the Tihama Asir Magmatic Complex (TAMC). Radiometric ages for the TAMC-rocks range from 26 to 18 Ma. Rifting in the southern part of the Red Sea System therefore is certainly older than 26 Ma. Between 26 and 20 Ma the southwestern Arabian margin was affected by a monoclinal downwarp (flexure). The oldest extensional features in the Jizan area are N-S to NNW-SSE striking dikes and normal faults which were overprinted by other NW-SE striking extension structures. An array of en-echelon extensionzones is linked by complex patterns of transfer faults, mainly WNW-ESE striking dextral strike slip or oblique-slip faults. The observed superposition of dikes and normal faults of different orientations was not necessarily caused by a counterclockwise rotation of the regional stress-field, but more likely reflects the clockwise rotation of individual faultbounded blocks between the two phases of extension. Uplift of the graben shoulder east of the Jizan coastal plain is probably younger than 14 Ma and its development coincides with a major rearrangement of the kinematics along the Red Sea. This new kinematic pattern probably led to the onset of strike-slip movement along the Aqaba-Levant transform. At the same time extension and volcanism ceased in the Jizan area or shifted further to the west. After a long hiatus of about 10 Ma renewed extension facilitated extrusion of alkali-olivine-basalts since 2 Ma ago.The kinematic development of the southwestern Arabian continental margin confirms aWernicke-type simple-shear model for the evolution of the southern Red Sea.

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Zusammenfassung Die tektonisch-magmatische Entwicklung der Küstenebene von Jizan (Tihama Asir, Südwestarabischer Kontinentalrand) ist geprägt durch NW-SE-streichende Extensionsstrukturen wie einen basischen Gangschwarm und mehrere Generationen von Abschiebungen, die mit der Bildung des Roten Meeres in Zusammenhang stehen. Die ältesten Synriftablagerungen, lakustrine Sedimente und bimodale Vulkanite der Jizan Group wurden von basischen Gängen, Gabbros und Granophyren des Tihama Asir Magmatit-Komplexes intrudiert, für den radiometrische Alter von 26-18 Ma vorliegen. Die Riftbildung im südlichen Abschnitt des Roten Meeres ist deshalb sicher älter als 26 Ma. Der sich in Südwest-Arabien bildende Kontinentalrand wurde während des Zeitraumes 26-20 Ma von einer monoklinalen Verkippung (Flexur) erfaßt. Die ältesten Extensionsstrukturen (Abschiebungen, Gänge) im Gebiet von Jizan streichen N-S bis NNW-SSE und wurden von NW-SE-streichenden abgelöst. En-echelon angeordnete, durch Extension geprägte Bereiche werden durch komplexe Transferstörungen miteinander verbunden. WNW-ESE-streichende dextrale Seitenverschiebungen bzw. Schrägabschiebungen fungieren dabei als hauptsächliche Verbindungsstrukturen. Die beobachtete Änderung der Streichrichtung von Gängen und Abschiebungen ist vermutlich weniger auf eine Rotation des regionalen Spannungsfeldes als auf klemräumige, im Uhrzeigersinn erfolgte Rotation einzelner Blöcke zurückzuführen. Die Hebung der Grabenschulter im Gebiet von Jizan ist vermutlich jünger als 14 Ma und fällt mit einer generellen Umstellung in der Kinematik des Roten Meeres zusammen. Diese Umstellung findet im nördlichen Roten Meer ihren deutlichen Ausdruck mit der einsetzenden Lateralbewegung an der Aqaba-LevanteBlattverschiebung. Mit der beginnenden Heraushebung des Escarpments erlosch die Extension und der Vulkanismus im Gebiet der Küstenebene von Jizan bzw. verlagerte sich in andere Gebiete. Erst vor ca. 2 Ma kam es erneut zu Extension und zur Extrusion von Alkali-Olivin-Basalten. Die kinematische Entwicklung des Südwestarabischen Kontinentalrandes wird mit dem Modell einfacher Scherung (»normal simpleshear-Model« nachWernicke 1985) für die Bildung des südlichen Roten Meeres erklärt.

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Résumé Le développement tectono-magmatique de la plaine côtière de Jizan (Tihama Asir, marge continentale sud-ouest de l'Arabie Saoudite) est caractérisé par des structures extensionnelles (dykes et failles normales orientés en général NW-SE) en relation avec la formation de la Mer Rouge. Les dépôts de rift les plus anciens, représentés par des sédiments lacustres et par les volcanites bimodales du groupe de Jizan, sont intrudés par des gabbros et granophyres appartenant au complexe magmatique de Tihama Asir, daté de 26-18 Ma. Il en résulte que l'ouverture de la partie sud de la Mer Rouge est antérieure à 26 Ma. Au cours de la période qui s'étend de 26 à 20 Ma, la marge continentale sud-ouest de l'Arabie a été affectée d'une rotation monoclinale (flexure). Les structures extensionnelles les plus anciennes dans la région de Jizan (filons et failles normales) sont orientées N-S à NNW-SSE et ont été reprises par des structures NW-SE. Les domaines qui ont été soumis à extension sont reliés par des failles transformantes complexes, essentiellement dextres. Le changement d'orientation des dykes et des failles normales n'a probablement pas été causé par une rotation des contraintes principales, mais plutôt par une rotation dextre de blocs rigides. Le soulèvement de l'épaulement du graben dans la région de Jizan est probablement postérieur à 14 Ma et coïncide avec un changement général des conditions cinématiques de la Mer Rouge. L'effet le mieux exprimé de ce changement en Mer Rouge septentrionale est le mouvement décrochant de la structure d'Aqaba. Le soulèvement de l'épaulement a marqué la fin de l'extension tectonique et de l'activité magmatique. Au Quaternaire, une deuxième période d'extension a conduit à l'extrusion de basaltes alcalins à olivine. L'évolution cinématique de la marge continentale du sudouest de l'Arabie s'intègre dans le modèle de cisaillement simple normal proposé parWernicke (1985) pour le développement de la Mer Rouge.

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- Jizan (Tihama Asir, ) , NW SE, , . , , Jizan , Tihama Asir, , , 26–18 . 26 . 26–20 , - , . , — Jizan N — S NNW- SSE, NW — SE. , , , () ; WNW-ESE , . , - , . . , . Jizan, 14 . , Aqaba — Levante. Jizan . 2 - . - (normal simple-shear Modell , 1985), .

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contribution no. 213, SFB 108 Universität Karlsruhe     

东非裂谷东支肯尼亚裂谷形成演化

东非裂谷东支肯尼亚裂谷包括5个重点凹陷,除South Lokichar凹陷外,其余凹陷均无发现。肯尼亚裂谷的形成演化及动力机制认识不清是制约油气勘探的关键。通过系统分析肯尼亚裂谷不同凹陷形成年代、裂谷类型和动力机制、构造演化和沉积充填过程,得到以下几点认识:(1)South Lokichar凹陷形成时间早,地层年代老。South Lokichar凹陷主要发育晚渐新世-中中新世地层;Turkana、Kerio及North Lokichar凹陷以中中新世-全新世地层为主;Kerio Valley凹陷主要发育中-晚中新世地层;(2)阿法尔地幔柱和肯尼亚地幔柱的隆升控制肯尼亚裂谷的形成演化。South Lokichar凹陷的形成演化主要受阿法尔地幔柱控制;其余4个凹陷主要受肯尼亚地幔柱控制;(3)不同类型的凹陷构造演化和沉积充填差异较大。South Lokichar凹陷与Kerio Valley凹陷为被动型裂谷,构造演化经历初始裂陷期、主裂陷期和裂陷后期三个阶段,在主裂陷期发育优质烃源岩;Turkana、Kerio及North Lokichar凹陷为主动型裂谷,构造演化包括火山事件活动期和间歇...     

Features of the Distribution of Abnormal Gasgeochemical Fields in the Red River Rift (Gulf of Tonkin,South China Sea)

Doklady Earth Sciences - This paper reports the results of the third Russian–Vietnamese expedition (V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of...     

Thermal and exhumation history of the central Rwenzori Mountains, Western Rift of the East African Rift System, Uganda

The Rwenzori Mountains (Mtns) in west Uganda are the highest rift mountains on Earth and rise to more than 5,000 m. We apply low-temperature thermochronology (apatite fission-track (AFT) and apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He (AHe) analysis) for tracking the cooling history of the Rwenzori Mtns. Samples from the central and northern Rwenzoris reveal AFT ages between 195.0 (±8.4) Ma and 85.3 (±5.3) Ma, and AHe ages between 210.0 (±6.0) Ma to 24.9 (±0.5) Ma. Modelled time–temperature paths reflect a protracted cooling history with accelerated cooling in Permo-Triassic and Jurassic times, followed by a long period of constant and slow cooling, than succeeded by a renewed accelerated cooling in the Neogene. During the last 10 Ma, differentiated erosion and surface uplift affected the Rwenzori Mtns, with more pronounced uplift along the western flank. The final rock uplift of the Rwenzori Mtns that partly led to the formation of the recent topography must have been fast and in the near past (Pliocene to Pleistocene). Erosion could not compensate for the latest rock uplift, resulting in Oligocene to Miocene AHe ages.     

Peralkaline magma evolution and the tephra record in the Ethiopian Rift

The 3.119 ± 0.010 Ma Chefe Donsa phreatomagmatic deposits on the shoulder of the Ethiopian Rift mark the northern termination of the Silti-Debre Zeyit Fault Zone, a linear zone of focused extension within the modern Ethiopian Rift. These peralkaline pumice fragments and glass shards span a wide range of glass compositions but have a restricted phenocryst assemblage dominated by unzoned sanidine. Glass shards found within the ash occupy a far more limited compositional range (75–76 wt% SiO₂) in comparison with the pumice (64–75 wt% SiO₂), which is rarely mingled. Thermodynamic modeling shows that liquids broadly similar to the least evolved glass composition can be achieved with 50–60 % fractionation of moderately crustally contaminated basalt. Inconsistencies between modeled solutions and the observed values of CaO and P₂O₅ highlight the important role of fluorine in stabilizing fluor-apatite and the limitations of current thermodynamic models largely resulting from the scarce experimental data available for the role of fluorine in igneous phase stability. On the basis of limited feldspar heterogeneity and crystal content of pumice at Chefe Donsa, and the difficulties of extracting small volumes of Si-rich melt in classical fractional crystallization models, we suggest a two-step polybaric process: (1) basaltic magma ponds at mid-upper-crustal depths and fractionates to form a crystal/magma mush. Once this mush has reached 50–60 % crystallinity, the interstitial liquid may be extracted from the rigid crystal framework. The trachytic magma extracted at this step is equivalent to the most primitive pumice analyzed at Chefe Donsa. (2) The extracted trachytic liquid will rise and continue to crystallize, generating a second mush zone from which rhyolite liquids may be extracted. Some of the compositional range observed in the Chefe Donsa deposits may result from the fresh intrusion of trachyte magma, which may also provide an eruption trigger. This model may have wider application in understanding the origin of the Daly Gap in Ethiopian magmas—intermediate liquids may not be extracted from crystal-liquid mushes due to insufficient crystallization to yield a rigid framework. The wide range of glass compositions characteristic of the proximal Chefe Donsa deposits is not recorded in temporally equivalent tephra deposits located in regional depocenters. Our results show that glass shards, which represent the material most likely transported to distal depocenters, occupy a limited compositional range at high SiO₂ values and overlap some distal tephra deposits. These results suggest that distal tephra deposits may not faithfully record the potentially wide range in magma compositions present in a magmatic system just prior to eruption and that robust distal–proximal tephra correlations must include a careful analysis of the full range of materials in the proximal deposit.     

Tectonics and evolution of the northeastern extremity of the East-Asian Rift Belt

The northeastern extremity of the East-Asian Rift Belt is designated as the Priokhotsky Rift, comprising the broadly north–south Torom (750 × 100 km) and Nizhneamursky (450 × 100 km) open faults formed by a system of northeast striking grabens associated with the closure of the Tan-Lu shear system and north–south striking grabens formed in a setting of oblique extension. Infilling of the grabens corresponding to the rift stage proper is the Eocene?Miocene coal-bearing molasse; the fields of the Miocene basalts are also related to it. The grabens of the rift belt are overlain by the Pliocene–Neopleistocene associations of rift basins in the forming plate cover of the Alpine platform.     

Geochemical evolution of southern Red Sea and Yemen flood volcanism: evidence for mantle heterogeneity

The Red Sea is part of the Afro-Arabian rift system, the world’s largest active continental rift system. The early opening phases of the Red Sea Rift were accompanied by continental flood magmatism. Large volumes of flood basalts emplaced in the Oligocene through to the present time at discrete eruptive centres along the western margin of the Arabian plate. Some of these rocks, in Southern Yemen, were investigated by geochemistry and K/Ar whole rock (WR) geochronology. In addition, the Jabal At-Tair (JAT) volcano, in the Red Sea trough, was investigated by geochemistry, with particular concern to the lavas of the last eruption of September 2007. The magmatism of Yemen is divided in: Oligocene–Early Miocene trap series (YOM), Tertiary intrusive rocks, and Late Miocene–recent volcanic series (YMR). YOM and Tertiary intrusions yielded K/Ar WR ages mostly in the range 31.6–16.6 Ma. Three older ages of 34.6, 35.4 and 49.0 Ma, if confirmed by further investigation, could suggest an Eocenic pre-trap phase of magmatic activity. YMR samples yielded K/Ar WR ages between 2.52 and 8.14 Ma. Both YOM and YMR basalts are alkaline, but YMR tend to be richer in alkalis than YOM. JAT basalts have subalkaline tholeiitic character, are geochemically homogeneous, and in the hygromagmaphile element spidergrams display increasing normalised concentrations from Cs to Ta, then decreasing up to Lu, with negative spikes of Nb, K and Pb. YOM have patterns almost identical to those of JAT, whereas YMR have higher normalized concentrations of all trace elements, but REE. The geochemical characteristics of JAT, YOM and YMR, framed in the broader context of the Red Sea Rift, are mostly consistent with a model of continental uplift and magmatism occurring across a linear, north–south axis of mantle upwelling, which intersects the Red Sea axis at the initiation site of axial seafloor spreading. The symmetrical propagation of the rift system to opposite sides of the N–S lineament, along the Red Sea axis, resulted in the observed symmetrical distribution of geochemical signatures of the Red Sea basalts and Yemen continental magmas.     

Pressure and temperature evolution of upper mantle under the Rio Grande Rift

Spinel peridotite xenoliths associated with the Rio Grande Rift axis (Potrillo and Elephant Butte volcanic fields) and the western rift shoulder (Adams Diggings) have been investigated to correlate pre-eruptive pressure and temperature conditions with xenolith deformation textures and rift location. Temperatures of xenolith equilibration at the rift shoulder are 100–250°C cooler for a given pressure than the temperatures at the rift axis. Undeformed xenoliths (protogranular texture) are derived from higher temperature and higher pressure conditions than deformed xenoliths (porphyroclastic and equigranular textures) in the rift axis. Exsolution lamellae in pyroxenes, small decreases in Al contents of orthopyroxenes from core to rim, and small differences in porphyroclastic orthopyroxene compositions versus neoblastic orthopyroxene compositions indicate high temperatures followed by cooling and a larger cooling interval in deformed rocks than in undeformed rocks. These features, along with thermal histories based on calcium zoning in olivine rims, indicate that the upper mantle under Adams Diggings and Elephant Butte has undergone cooling from an initial high temperature state followed by a late heating event, and the upper mantle under Potrillo has undergone cooling, reheating, and late heating events.