Chemostratigraphy of lava sequences from the Rio Itapicuru Greenstone Belt,Bahia State,Brazil

The Rio Itapicuru greenstone terrain of north-central Bahia State consists of belts of supracrustal rocks surrounding granitic plutons and domes. The basal supracrustal rocks are predominantly massive metabasalts with minor amounts of intercalated chemical sedimentary rocks and mafic tuffs. They are overlain by a middle unit of intermediate to acid pyroclastic rocks, lavas, and volcaniclastic sediments, and an upper unit of greywackes, sandstones and conglomerates.A geochemical study of major and trace elements of the volcanic rocks indicates the existence of a chemical discontinuity between the basaltic and the acid to intermediate members. The basalts are typical tholeiites with Ti, Zr, Sr, Y and Nb contents analogous to those of modern ocean-floor tholeiites or, alternatively, low-K tholeiites of primitive island arcs. In contrast, compositional variations of the hornblende-bearing andesites and dacites fall along indisputably calc-alkaline trends of low FeO and TiO₂ contents which decrease with increasing differentiation. The lithostratigraphic and chemical variations within lavas of the Rio Itapicuru greenstone are comparable to those described from the Western Australian greenstone belts. Only in greenstone belts of the Canadian type do thick calc-alkaline sequences containing abudant basaltic andesites overlie conformably and transitionally the underlying tholeiitic basalts. Elsewhere the calc-alkaline sequences, if present, do not contain basaltic andesites and are chemically unrelated to the underlying basalts.     

Clinopyroxene composition in mafic lavas from different tectonic settings

Many metamorphosed and weathered basalts contain fresh clinopyroxene crystals set in an altered groundmass. Microprobe analysis of these relict grains can be used to identify the magma type of the host lava. Statistical discrimination of clinopyroxenes from known magma types provides a test of the effectiveness of this method, showing that any attempt to classify an unknown clinopyroxene as either an ocean-floor basalt, a volcanic arc basalt, a within plate tholeiite or a within plate alkali basalt magma type should have a 70% chance of success. Identification of within plate alkali basalts is most likely to be successful because their pyroxenes characteristically have high Na and Ti and low Si contents. Within plate tholeiites can usually be distinguished from volcanic arc basalts because their pyroxenes contain more Ti, Fe and Mn. However, neither of these last two magma types can be easily distinguished from ocean floor basalts on the basis of pyroxene analyses. Diagrams of pyroxene composition based on discriminant functions and on Na₂O vs MnO vs TiO₂, SiO₂ vs TiO₂ and SiO₂ vs Al₂O₃ provide the basis for visual discrimination. The discrimination achieved is mainly due to differences in the bulk chemistry of the host magmas and in the partitioning of cations into the pyroxene lattice; differences in temperature and crystallization histroy of the magmas are of lesser, but nevertheless finite, importance. Application of this technique to pyroxenes in metabasalts from Othris, Greece gave results consistent with, but more ambiguous than, results obtained from immobile trace element studies.     

阿尔金山北缘早古生代岩浆活动的构造环境

阿尔金山北缘地处塔里木盆地和柴达木盆地之间的阿尔金断裂的西北,是青藏高原北部边界地区。该区花岗岩类主要形成于早古生代以来,为钙碱性岩系(碱性程度不高),发育Ⅰ型和A型两种花岗岩类,缺少S型花岗岩。早古生代与蛇绿岩伴生的双峰式火山岩系属于亚碱性系列,其中的玄武岩主要为拉斑系列,流纹岩属钙碱系列。花岗岩类构造环境分析和判别结果表明,阿尔金山北缘早古生代处在破坏性活动板块边缘,构造环境可能经历了早古生代活动陆缘的(火山)岛弧、中生代大陆造陆抬升以至新生代的后造山作用演化过程。火山岩类的构造环境分析结果表明,玄武岩类可能具有洋脊区、岛弧区和板内区各种构造环境,流纹岩类则主要处在板内区。以上分析说明早古生代"阿尔金洋"的存在。      

Textural and compositional evidence for magma mixing and its mechanism,Abu volcano group,southwestern Japan

Quaternary basalts, andesites and dacites from the Abu monogenetic volcano group, SW Japan, (composed of more than 40 monogenetic volcanoes) show two distinct chemical trends especially on the FeO^*/MgO vs SiO₂ diagram. One trend is characterized by FeO^*/MgO-enrichment with a slight increase in SiO₂ content (Fe-type trend), whereas the other shows a marked SiO₂-enrichment with relatively constant FeO^*/MgO ratios (Si-type trend). The Fe-type trend is explained by fractional crystallization with subtraction of olivine and augite from a primitive alkali basalt magma. Rocks of the Si-type trend are characterized by partially melted or resorbed quartz and sodic plagioclase phenocrysts and/or fine-grained basaltic inclusions. They are most likely products of mixing of a primitive alkali basalt magma containing olivine phenocrysts with a dacite magma containing quartz, sodic plagioclase and hornblende phenocrysts. Petrographic variation as well as chemical variation from basalt to dacite of the Si-type trend is accounted for by various mixing ratios of basalt and dacite magmas. Pargasitic hornblende and clinopyroxene phenocrysts in andesite and dacite may have crystallized from basaltic magma during magma mixing. Olivine and spinel, and quartz, sodic plagioclase and common hornblende had crystallized in basaltic and dacitic magmas, respectively, before the mixing. Within a lava flow, the abundance of basaltic inclusions decreases from the area near the eruptive vent towards the perimeter of the flow, and the number of resorbed phenocrysts varies inversely, suggesting zonation in the magma chamber.The mode of mixing changes depending on the mixing ratio. In the mafic mixture, basalt and dacite magmas can mix in the liquid state (liquid-liquid mixing). In the silicic mixture, on the other hand, the basalt magma was quenched and formed inclusions (liquid-solid mixing). During mixing, the disaggregated basalt magma and the host dacite magma soon reached thermal equilibrium. Compositional homogenization of the mixed magma can occur only when the equilibrium temperature is sufficiently above the solidus of the basalt magma. The Si-type trend is chemically and petrographically similar to the calc-alkalic trend. Therefore, a calc-alkalic trend which is distinguished from a fractional crystallization trend (e.g. Fe-type trend) may be a product of magma mixing.     

Magmatic inclusions in rhyolites,contaminated basalts,and compositional zonation beneath the Coso volcanic field,California

Basaltic lava flows and high-silica rhyolite domes form the Pleistocene part of the Coso volcanic field in southeastern California. The distribution of vents maps the areal zonation inferred for the upper parts of the Coso magmatic system. Subalkalic basalts (<50% SiO₂) were erupted well away from the rhyolite field at any given time. Compositional variation among these basalts can be ascribed to crystal fractionation. Erupted volumes of these basalts decrease with increasing differentiation. Mafic lavas containing up to 58% SiO₂, erupted adjacent to the rhyolite field, formed by mixing of basaltic and silicic magma. Basaltic magma interacted with crustal rocks to form other SiO₂-rich mafic lavas erupted near the Sierra Nevada fault zone.Several rhyolite domes in the Coso volcanic field contain sparse andesitic inclusions (55–61% SiO₂). Pillow-like forms, intricate commingling and local diffusive mixing of andesite and rhyolite at contacts, concentric vesicle distribution, and crystal morphologies indicative of undercooling show that inclusions were incorporated in their rhyolitic hosts as blobs of magma. Inclusions were probably dispersed throughout small volumes of rhyolitic magma by convective (mechanical) mixing. Inclusion magma was formed by mixing (hybridization) at the interface between basaltic and rhyolitic magmas that coexisted in vertically zoned igneous systems. Relict phenocrysts and the bulk compositions of inclusions suggest that silicic endmembers were less differentiated than erupted high-silica rhyolite. Changes in inferred endmembers of magma mixtures with time suggest that the steepness of chemical gradients near the silicic/mafic interface in the zoned reservoir may have decreased as the system matured, although a high-silica rhyolitic cap persisted.The Coso example is an extreme case of large thermal and compositional contrast between inclusion and host magmas; lesser differences between intermediate composition magmas and inclusions lead to undercooling phenomena that suggest smaller T. Vertical compositional zonation in magma chambers has been documented through study of products of voluminous pyroclastic eruptions. Magmatic inclusions in volcanic rocks provide evidence for compositional zonation and mixing processes in igneous systems when only lava is erupted.     

Early Cenozoic volcanism of the Kolyuchin-Mechigmen graben, Chukotka Peninsula

The paper reports new isotope-geochemical data on Late Paleocene-Early Eocene basalts from the central part of the Kolyuchin-Mechigmen graben, eastern Chukotka Peninsula. The distribution of the major and trace elements and trace-element ratios indicates that the basalts were formed in a marginal-continental rift setting. The peculiar feature of the basalts is a combination of depleted within-plate and suprasubduction geochemical signatures, which make the volcanic rocks from Mt. Otdel’naya different from rocks of suprasubduction volcanic belts and from tholeiites and alkaline lavas of continental rifts and oceanic islands. Extremely high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios in the studied basalts as compared to those of similar volcanic rocks from extension zones are probably related to the involvement of carbonate material in the magma generation zone.     

Petrogenesis of the Flood-Basalt Sequence at Noril'sk,North Central Siberia

The 3500-m-thick sequence of volcanic rocks at Noril'sk, formed during a brief interval (～1 m.y.) at the Permian/Triassic time boundary (～251 Ma), represents the earliest part of the ～6500-m-thick sequence presently ascribed to the Siberian flood-basalt province. It is composed of picritic and basaltic lavas of both low-Ti and high-Ti parentage. Extensive geological, geochemical, and isotopic study of the lava sequence and related intrusions allows detailed reconstruction of its petrogenesis. Various crustal-related processes-fractionation, crustal contamination, sulfide separation, and magma mixing-participated in the formation of the lavas. The geochemical and isotopic characteristics indicative of these processes, as well as mantle-related signatures of lava compositions, are discussed. Based on these characteristics, detailed interpretations of lava genesis and evolution throughout the Noril'sk sequence are presented. Eight varieties of lavas are recognized to be primitive, similar in composition to primary mantle melts; they varied from low-Mg basalts to olivine tholeiites or picrites, with normal tholeiites predominating.

The primitive lavas are subdivided into four groups (magma types) on the basis of trace-element ratios (principally, Gd/Yb, Th/U, La/Yb, Ta/La, Ti/Sc, and V/Yb) and isotopic data. Three of the groups include both basaltic and picritic primitive lavas (with low-Mg basalts present in one of them), whereas the fourth group is represented exclusively by tholeiites. Distinctions among the groups cannot be related to degree of melting, and isotopic data indicate that none of the magma types could have formed by mixing or contamination of other types. Apparently, only differences in source composition and/or depth of melting can explain the magmatic diversity.

This multitude of primitive magma types may be explained by melting in different layers of the upper mantle, which is complexly layered beneath Siberia to depths of 270 km. Moreover, no clear boundary between lithosphere and asthenosphere is evident in the deep seismic profile. A large-scale event is necessary to account for melting in different parts of the upper mantle and formation of the great volume of the Siberian flood basalts in ～1 m.y. Extension, caused by ascent of a mantle plume, would provide a reasonable explanation, but no plume-related uplift is documented in north-central Siberia prior to, or during, eruption of the volcanic sequence.     

Crustal contamination of Late Neogene basalts in the Dien Bien Phu Basin,NW Vietnam: Some insights from petrological and geochronological studies

Early Pliocene (Zanclean) basalts in the Dien Bien Phu pull-apart basin in NW Vietnam, associated with the presently sinistral Dien Bien Phu Fault Zone, have been dated by the K–Ar method at 4.4–4.9 and 5.4–5.2 Ma. Rapid migration of basaltic magma to the surface in the Dien Bien Phu Fault Zone may be due to Pliocene transtension of the crust in this region, resulting from asthenospheric upwelling induced by lateral displacement of the mantle. The basalts are moderately phyric ( < 10%) and consist of olivine (hyalosiderite), plagioclase (bytownite–labradorite) and orthopyroxene (bytownite–labradorite) phenocrysts, and a fine-grained crystalline matrix (olivine–hortonolite, plagioclase–labradorite, clinopyroxene–pigeonite and augite, K-feldspar). The presence of Fe-rich olivine and orthopyroxene phenocrysts indicates that the basalts are SiO₂-saturated/oversaturated olivine tholeiites which formed under water-undersaturated conditions. The Dien Bien Phu basalts contain both mantle-derived (pyroxenites, dunites, gabbros) and crustal (sillimanite/mullite + Mg–Fe spinel), wallrock xenoliths, indicative of crustal contamination during the ascent of the basaltic magma. The basalts show selective enrichment in some mobile elements (K, Rb, Sr and Th), a feature considered to be a result of metasomatism. These rocks, classified on the basis of their normative composition as quartz tholeiites, could represent primary olivine tholeiites/basalts, in which the geochemical signatures were modified by the processes of contamination.     

Volcanic evolution of the marginal and interarc basins

Volcanic evolution of the interarc and marginal basins is analysed using the available data on volcanics from the presently existent and ancient back-arc basins of the western Pacific and Mediterranean. It is shown that in early (pre-spreading) stages of back-arc rifting, the character of volcanism is determined by “maturity” of the adjacent island arc. It is predominantly alkaline or mildly alkaline for back-arc basins related to the island-arcs with high-potash calc-alkaline and shoshonitic volcanism. The back-arc alkaline and mildly alkaline basalts strongly differ from the continental and oceanic rift volcanoes by constantly lower Ti, Nb and Zr contents. Because of these features these basalts are akin to the basaltic members of the island-arc volcanic series. As the latter, they are generally strongly enriched in K₂O and LIL elements, whereas Na₂O reveals comparatively small variability. With initiation of spreading a sharp depression of K₂O, LIL and light REE occurs in the axial basalts of back-arc basins, that progressively approach the MORB composition. But even tholeiites from the most evolved basins that underwent a considerable spreading reveal slight but detectable geochemical peculiarities, indicating their island-arc affinities. Origin of the low-Ti alkaline basaltic magmas of the active continental margins is discussed.     

Nickel content of basaltic magmas: identification of primary magmas and a measure of the degree of olivine fractionation

Available NiO analyses of olivine in peridotites of probable mantle origin are consistent in giving values around 0.40 weight per cent. Assuming that basaltic magma forming from the mantle was in equilibrium with such peridotitic olivine, the NiO content of primary basaltic magmas is estimated to be about 0.030–0.050 weight per cent. The fractionation behaviour of nickel in basaltic magma due to the crystallization of olivine has been calculated using constant NiMg and FeMg exchange partition coefficients between olivine and magma. It is shown that the NiO content of both magma and olivine decreases by 50 per cent after fractional crystallization of 6–12 per cent of olivine. The nickel distribution in some basaltic rocks and olivines is examined in the light of these results, and it is suggested that basaltic magmas, such as some of the ocean-floor basalt and the Hawaiian tholeiite and alkali basalts, represent primary magmas from mantle peridotites.     

Potassium and Associated Elements in Tholeiitic Basalts

Selected average analyses of tholeiitic basalts, which havemarkedly differing contents of K₂O, show a broad coherence betweenK, P, Ti, Ba, Rb, Sr, and Zr. The content of K₂O in the averageanalyses of 43 tholeiitic provinces shows a wide range (0.07–1.61per cent) and has a positively skewed frequency distribution.K₂O in individual tholeiitic basalts and dolerites has a similardistribution pattern. The relationship between K₂O and MgO in the average analysesindicates that the range of K₂O content cannot be solely theresult of near-surface differentiation, nor, indeed, any differentiationprocess which is indexed by the MgO content of the differentiates. Processes which could effect an enrichment of K and associatedelements in tholeiites are assessed and it is concluded thatdegree of melting, eclogite fractionation at high pressure,and mantle wall-rock reaction are likely to be significant factors.Crustal contamination is considered not to be a generally significantfactor in the development of continental tholeiites. The concept that all other tholeiites are derived from a parentalmagma with the composition of low-K deep oceanic tholeiitesis rejected.     

Temporal magmatic variation at Boqueron volcano,El Salvador

The relative ages of 21 lavas from Boqueron volcano in El Salvador were determined by superposition. The lavas are grey to black, porphyritic basalts, basaltic andesites and andesites with phenocrysts of plagioclase, augite, olivine, and magnetite. The andesitic lavas appear to have evolved from basaltic magma by fractionation of the observed phenocryst phases.The temporal variation in the chemical composition of the lavas at Boqueron is composed of three components. First, there is a crudely cyclical alternation of basalts and andesites. Second, these cycles are progressively shifted toward higher SiO₂ contents. Third, approximately in the middle of the stratigraphic section sampled, there is an abrupt change in chemical variation trends from an Al-rich and Fe-poor trend to an Fe-rich and Al-poor trend. This change is interpreted to have been caused by an increased proportion of plagioclase fractionation and a decreased porportion of augite fractionation. The crudely cyclical change in SiO₂ content with time is interpreted as a combination of crystal fractionation that increases SiO₂ content, followed by influxes of basaltic magma that mix with residual magma to decrease SiO₂ content. Successive cycles are shifted toward higher SiO₂ content because there is a significant volume of fractionated magma remaining in the chamber before each influx of basalt.     

Magmatic infiltration and melting in the lower crust and upper mantle beneath the Cima volcanic field,California

 Xenoliths of lower crustal and upper mantle rocks from the Cima volcanic field (CVF) commonly contain glass pockets, veins, and planar trains of glass and/or fluid inclusions in primary minerals. Glass pockets occupy spaces formerly occupied by primary minerals of the host rocks, but there is a general lack of correspondence between the composition of the glass and that of the replaced primary minerals. The melting is considered to have been induced by infiltration of basaltic magma and differentiates of basaltic magma from complex conduits formed by hydraulic fracturing of the mantle and crustal rocks, and to have occurred during the episode of CVF magmatism between ∼7.5 Ma and present. Variable compositions of quenched melts resulted from mixing of introduced melts and products of melting of primary minerals, reaction with primary minerals, partial crystallization, and fractionation resulting from melt and volatile expulsion upon entrainment of the xenoliths. High silica melts ( >∼60% SiO₂) may result by mixing introduced melts with siliceous melts produced by reaction of orthopyroxene. Other quenched melt compositions range from those comparable to the host basalts to those with intermediate Si compositions and elevated Al, alkalis, Ti, P, and S; groundmass compositions of CVF basalts are consistent with infiltration of fractionates of those basalts, but near-solidus melting may also contribute to formation of glass with intermediate silica contents with infiltration only of volatile constituents. Received: 15 June 1995 / Accepted: 13 December 1995     

Petrogenesis of Early Cretaceous bimodal volcanic rocks in the Fanchang Basin,SE China: an energy-constrained assimilation–fractional crystallization model

Volcanic rocks in the Middle–Lower Yangtze River Valley (MLYRV) constitute a bimodal magmatic suite, with a significant compositional gap (between 50% and 63% SiO₂) between the mafic and felsic members. The suite is characterized by a relatively wide spectrum of rock types, including basalts, trachytes, and rhyolites. The basaltic rocks have low-to-moderate SiO₂ contents of 46.00–50.01%, whereas the trachytes and rhyolites possess SiO₂ contents in the range of 63.08–77.61%. Rocks of the bimodal suite show moderate enrichment of LILEs, negative Nb, Ta, and Ti anomalies, and are significantly enriched in LREEs. The basalts were most likely generated by parental mafic magmas derived from enriched lithospheric mantle with minor assimilation of crustal materials involving coeval crystal fractionation during magma evolution. The results of energy-constrained assimilation and fractional crystallization simulations demonstrate that the felsic magma was produced by the mixing of 5–20% lower crustal anatectic melts with an evolved mafic magma (～48% SiO₂) and accompanied by extensive clinopyroxene, plagioclase, biotite, and Fe–Ti oxide fractionation. Our model for the genesis of felsic rocks in bimodal suites is different from the traditional models of crustal melting and fractional crystallization or assimilation–fractional crystallization of basaltic liquids.     

Correlations among large igneous provinces related to the West Gondwana breakup: A geochemical database reappraisal of Early Cretaceous plumbing systems

The opening and spreading of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America evolved during the Early Cretaceous and were preceded by dramatic tholeiitic (mafic) magmatism and minor silicic and alkaline volcanism. These features are presently recognized from the equatorial regions of Brazil and Africa to the Falklands and South Africa. In southeastern South America, continental flood basalts and related plumbing systems constitute the Paraná Magmatic Province (PMP), whose African counterpart is the Etendeka Magmatic Province (EMP). In northeastern Brazil, dike swarms and sill complexes compose the Equatorial Atlantic Magmatic Province (EQUAMP). As a common feature, these provinces are chemically represented by two prevalent magma types: (1) tholeiitic basalts and basaltic andesites with low Ti (TiO₂ < ～2 wt.%), also including transitional Ti tholeiites with TiO₂ ～ 2.7–1.7 wt.%, and low incompatible element contents. This type is predominantly found in the southern PMP and EMP, with minor occurrences in the EQUAMP. (2) Tholeiitic basalts and basaltic andesites with high Ti (TiO₂ > ～2 wt.%) and incompatible element contents. High Ti tholeiites are relevant in the northern PMP and EMP, and dominant in EQUAMP. Evolved rocks (SiO₂ = 57–65 wt.%) interpreted as byproducts of assimilation and/or fractional crystallization (AFC) processes from high Ti tholeiitic magmas, are scarce (but present) in all three provinces. An accurate analysis of multivariable databases collected from the literature for dikes and sills, including major and trace element and radiogenic isotope data, reveals close similarities in their geochemical signatures. In a paleogeographic reconstruction of West Gondwana, the intrusive remnants of the PMP, EMP and EQUAMP are spread over an area of nearly 10 × 10⁶ km², forming perhaps the most extensive set of plumbing systems on Earth, with a relatively consistent chronology based on a vast collection of K–Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data available in the literature. This work provides the first comprehensive data comparison to support the existence of what may have been a single intercontinental-scale magmatic province of West Gondwana.     

Geology and tectonics of the Boa Vista Basin (Paraíba, northeastern Brazil) and geochemistry of associated Cenozoic tholeiitic magmatism

The Boa Vista Basin (BVB) is located approximately 60 km southwest of Campina Grande, Paraíba, northeastern Brazil. It has a half-graben geometry controlled by dip-slip normal faults striking NE–SW. From the base to the top, the BVB is composed of (1) a lower volcanic unit of altered basalts and basaltic andesites overlying Precambrian basement rocks, (2) an intermediate unit of bentonitic shales that pass upward to medium- to coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates and downward to sandstones and siltstones, and (3) an upper volcanic unit of massive to vesiculated basaltic flows grading to pillowed or autobrecciated basalts. These basalts show porphyritic (olivine and augite microphenocrysts), glomeroporphyritic, intersetal, pilotaxitic, and variolitic textures. They are medium-K, Fe-rich tholeiites with SiO₂ of 50.2–53.3 wt%, magnesium number of 50.54–60.21 wt%, total alkali of 2.15–3.92 wt%, and TiO₂ of 1.8–1.9 wt% and are related by low-pressure fractionation of olivine, plagioclase, magnetite, ilmenite, and apatite. They are LREE-enriched (La_N/Yb_N=8.54–44.14) with no significant europium anomaly. Trace element modeling suggests a garnet-bearing metasomatised lherzolite as their source. The geological context and geochemistry of the basalts suggest a close connection between reactivated deep-rooted Precambrian shear zones, which channeled mantle-derived Tertiary tholeiitic magmas, and continental rifting in northeastern Brazil.     

Geochronology and geochemistry of late Cenozoic basalts from the Leiqiong area,southern China

The Leiqiong area, which includes the Leizhou Peninsula and the northern part of the Hainan Island, is the largest province of exposed basalts in southern China. Ar–Ar and K–Ar dating indicates that incipient volcanism in the Leiqiong area may have taken place in late Oligocene time and gradually increased in tempo toward the Miocene and Pliocene Epoch. Volcanic activities were most extensive during Pleistocene, and declined and ended in Holocene. Based on radiometric age dating and geographic distribution, Pliocene and Quaternary volcanism in Hainan Island can be grouped into two stages and six eruptive regions. The early volcanism is dominated by flood type fissure eruption of quartz tholeiites and olivine tholeiites whereas the later phase is dominated by central type eruption of alkali olivine basalts and olivine tholeiites. The systematic decrease of MgO, ΣFeO and TiO₂ with increasing SiO₂ content for basalts from Hainan Island indicates that fractional crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene and Ti-bearing opaques may have occurred during magmatic evolution. From coexisting Fe–Ti oxide minerals, it is estimated that the equilibrium temperatures range from 895–986°C and oxygen fugacities range from 10^−13.4 to 10^−10.7 atmospheres in the basaltic magmas. The incompatible element ratios and the chondrite-normalized REE patterns of basalts from the Leiqiong area are generally similar to OIB. The Nb/U ratios (less than 37) in most of the tholeiitic rocks and the negative Nb anomaly observed in the spidergram of some basalts indicated that the influence of a paleo-subduction zone derived component can not be excluded in considering the genesis of the basalts from the Leiqiong area. The tholeiites in the Leiqiong area may have mixed with a more enriched lithospheric mantle component as well as undergone relatively larger percentages of partial melting than the alkali basalts.     

Geology and petrogenesis of the edgecumbe volcanic field,SE Alaska: The interaction of basalt and sialic crust

The Edgecumbe volcanic field is a Holocene volcanic province located on Kruzof Island, SE Alaska. Exposed within the 260 km² field are basalt, andesitic basalt, andesite, dacite and rhyodacite. The rhyodacites were erupted after the basalts and before the andesites. The volcanics, which are Al-rich (14–18 wt%) and lack an iron enrichment trend, range from tholeiites (47 wt% SiO₂) through rhyodacites (72%), but a compositional gap of approximately 9 wt% separates the dacites and rhyodacites. Initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ranges from 0.70297 in the basalts to 0.70440 in a pyroxene andesite. δ ¹⁸O increases across the suite: 5.8‰ to 7.9‰. Plagioclase (An_32–86) is the dominant phenocryst in all but one lava. Olivine (Fo_58–86) occurs in the basic lavas (<53 wt% SiO₂), but is replaced by orthopyroxene (En_43–73) and clinopyroxene (En₃₁Wo₄₁-En₄₈Wo₄₀) in the more siliceous volcanics. In the basalts and rhyodacites, plagioclase is weakly zoned, but extreme zoning (<30 mole% An) is characteristic of phenocrysts in the intermediate lavas. Fractionation of the observed phenocryst assemblages could not have produced the more silicous volcanics. Instead they were generated by partial melting of intrusive basement (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.70487; δ ¹⁸O: 8.7–9.3) by basaltic magma and subsequent assimilation. Mass balance calculations show the rhyodacites are almost pure partial melt (<5% basaltic component) whereas the intermediate lavas contain between 30 and 60% partial melt.     

Mineralogy and proposed P-T paths of basaltic lavas from Rabaul caldera,Papua New Guinea

Rabaul caldera is a large volcanic depression at the north-east tip of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The lavas range in composition from basalt to rhyolite and have a calc-alkalic affinity but also display features typical of tholeiites, including moderate absolute iron enrichment in flows cropping out around the caldera. The basalts contain phenocrysts of plagioclase and clinopyroxene with less abundant olivine and titanomagnetite. In the basaltic andesites olivine is rare, while orthopyroxene and titanomagnetite are common along with plagioclase and clinopyroxene. Orthopyroxene is also found mantling olivine in some of the basalts while in both rock types pigeonitic augite is a fairly common constituent of the groundmass. Plagioclase in both basalt and basaltic andesite often exhibits sieve texture and analysis of the glass blebs show them to be of similar composition to the bulk rock. Phenocrystic clinopyroxene is a diopsidic augite in both basalt and basaltic andesite. Al₂O₃ content of the clinopyroxene is moderately high (4%) and often shows considerable variation in any one grain. Calculations show that the microphenocrysts probably crystallised near the surface, while phenocrysts crystallised at around 7 kb (21 km). Neither the basalts nor the basaltic andesites would have been in equilibrium at any geologically reasonable P and T with quartz eclogite. Equilibration between mantle peridotite and a. typical Rabaul basaltic liquid could have occurred around 35 kb and 1270 °C. A basaltic andesite liquid yields a temperature of 1263 °C and a pressure of 28 kb for equilibration with mantle peridotite.Partial melting of sufficient volumes of mantle peridotite at these P's and T's requires about 15% H₂O, but there is no evidence that these magmas ever contained large amounts of water. It is proposed that the Rabaul magmas were initially generated by partial melting of subducted lithosphere and subsequently modified by minor partial melting as they passed through the overlying mantle peridotite.     

Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of Three Series of Cenozoic Basalts from Southeastern China

Cenozoic basaltic volcanism in southeastern China was related to the lithospheric extension and asthenospheric upwelling at the eastern Eurasian continental margin. The cenozoic basaltic rocks from this region can be grouped into three different series: tholeiitic basalts, alkali basalts, and picritic-nephelinitic basalts. Each basalt series has distinctive geochemical features and is not derived from a common source rock by different degrees of partial melting or from a common parental magma by fractional crystallization. The mineralogy, petrography, and major and trace-element geochemistry of the tholeiites are similar to oceanic island basalts, implying that the mantle source for these Chinese continental tholeiites was similar to that of the oceanic island basalts—an asthenospheric mantle. The alkali basalts and picritic-nephelinitic basalts are enriched in incompatible trace elements, and their geochemical features can be interpreted as a result of partial melting of an enriched lithospheric mantle, or the mixing products of an asthenospheric magma with a component derived from an enriched lithospheric mantle through thermal erosion at the base of the lithosphere. But the lack of a transitional rock type and continuous variational trends among these basalts suggests that the mixing between asthenospheric magmas and lithospheric magmas probably was not significant in the petrogenesis of the basalts from SE China. Low-degree partial melting of enriched lithospheric mantle alone can account for the observed geochemical data from these basalts.