Basalts Generated by Decompressive Adiabatic Melting of a Mantle Plume: a Case Study from the Isle of Skye, NW Scotland

The primitive lavas of the Skye Main Lava Series (SMLS) arebasaltic rocks ranging from ne- to hy-normative, and definedas having MgO>7%. They have evolved by olivine(plus minorCr-spinel) fractionation from more picritic parental materialAn artificial data-set has been generated by normalizing allcompositions to 15% MgO by fractional addition of olivine, todefine compositional characteristics of primary magmas. Themost striking feature of the data-set is a very strong negativecorrelation between Si and Fe, as is seen in many oceanic alkalibasalt suites and in localized data-sets from mid-ocean ridgeswhen normalized for fractional crystallization. The SMLS dataare comparable to the compositions of equilibrium melts producedexperimentally by Hirose & Kushiro (Earth and PlanetaryScience Letters, 114, 477–489, 1993) from the relativelySi- and Fe-rich starting composition HK-66. Estimates of depthsand temperatures of last equilibration of the SMLS magmas withtheir mantle source have been made, on the assumption that mantlemelting may have been an equilibrium process. On this basis,it appears that primary magmas, containing 13–15% MgO,were generated by decompressive melting of abnormally hot mantle(estimated minimum mantle potential temperature, TP 1440C),associated with the Iceland plume. Melting was initiated inthe garnet stability field, and segregation is estimated tohave taken place over the pressure range 18–36 kbar (60–112-kmdepth) and a temperature range of 1390–1510 C. The P–Ttrajectory of segregation appears to coincide closely with estimatesof the solid + liquid adiabatfor mantle melting. Alkali basaltswere segregated from the greatest depths and olivine tholeiitesfrom higher levels, though the majority of magmas were derivedfrom near the top of the melting column. After segregation,magmas ascended to the surface, cooling at the rate of 3C/km,and were erupted in a comparatively narrow temperature rangeclose to 1200C. The suitability of HK-66 as a general modelfor mantle composition in ascending plumes is discussed, asmost within-plate primitive basalts in oceanic environmentsshare the same Fe-rich character as the SMLS, in which theycontrast with normal ridge-related magmas. Within-plate plumesmay perhaps tap mantle of abnormally high Fe/Mg, though thepossibility that compositional differences in plume-relatedand normal ridge-related magmas are generated by contrasts inprocess cannot yet be excluded. If, however, a relatively Fe-richreservoir exists deep within the mantle, and acts as the sourcefor plume-related magmatism, then ultimately a global positivecorrelation should exist between estimates ofT_p and the Fe/Mgratio of the sources for individual suites. Corresponding author     

Major Element Records of Variable Plume Involvement in the North Atlantic Province Tertiary Flood Basalts

Major element variations in North Atlantic Tertiary Provinceprimitive, early erupted, alkaline-transitional-tholeiite basalts,recalculated to a restricted value of MgO, give insights intothe process of plume-related magmatism. Basalts primitive enoughto be crystallizing only olivine were recalculated to a proposedprimary magma composition of 15 wt % MgO. The recalculated datasetshows clear inter-element correlations including a strong, significant,negative correlation between Fe and Si indicating polybaricmelt segregation. Overlap between basalt compositions and experimentalmelts from a fertile, Fe-rich, low mg-number (85.5) peridotitesuggests that, relative to normal peridotite with mg-number> 89, the North Atlantic basalt source was Fe rich. Linearregression of the experimental data gives apparent pressuresof magma segregation of 17·5–37 kbar, with intra-regionvariability in the depth derivation from the melt column foreach sample, thus suggesting that lithospheric thickness ‘lid-effect’control on magma generation may have been overemphasized inrecent studies. Comparable source composition, magma segregationdepth and calculated mantle potential temperature (1440–1460°C)throughout the Province supports the previously suggested plumeimpact model, arriving below East Greenland, derived from avariably enriched and depleted lower-mantle source. Given thegood agreement between conclusions drawn from major elementdata and previously published results we suggest that restricted-MgOrecalculated datasets may be usefully applied to study otherlarge igneous provinces. KEY WORDS: basalt; Fe-rich mantle; large igneous provinces; North Atlantic Tertiary Province; restricted-MgO major element datasets