The Recrystallization Front of the Ronda Peridotite: Evidence for Melting and Thermal Erosion of Subcontinental Lithospheric Mantle beneath the Alboran Basin

Evidence for a major heating event accompanied by decompressionwas recently reported from crustal rocks drilled in the Alboranbasin. The metamorphic evolution recorded by these rocks impliescomplete removal of lithospheric mantle during the Cenozoic,a process that is confirmed by geophysical modelling indicatingthin lithosphere beneath the Alboran domain. In this region,the Ronda lherzolite massif (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain)provides a unique opportunity for the observation of mantleprocesses associated with lithospheric thinning. A strikingfeature of the Ronda peridotite is a narrow recrystallizationfront, which has been ascribed to kilometre-scale porous meltflow through the massif. The front separates the spinel tectonitedomain, interpreted as old, veined lithospheric mantle, fromthe granular domain where the lithospheric microstructures,mineralogical assemblages and geochemical signatures were obliteratedby grain growth coeval with pervasive infiltration of basalticmelts. On the basis of trace-element abundances in peridotitescollected over a distance of 12 km along the recrystallizationfront, our study confirms that the front is a relatively sharp(