Polybaric differentiation of alkali basaltic magmas: evidence from green-core clinopyroxenes (Eifel,FRG)

The Quaternary foidites and basanites of the West Eifel (Germany) contain optically and chemically heterogeneous clinopyroxenes, some of which occur as discrete zones within individual crystals: Most clinopyroxene phenocrysts are made up of a core and a normally zoned comagmatic titanaugite mantle. Most cores are greenish pleochroic and moderately resorbed (fassaitic augite). Some are pale green and strongly resorbed (acmitic augite). Cores of Al-augite composition and of Cr-diopside derived from peridotite xenoliths are rare. The fassaitic augites are similar in trace element distribution pattern to the titanaugites, but are more enriched in incompatible elements. The acmitic augites, in contrast, are clearly different in their trace element composition and are enriched in Na, Mn, Fe and depleted in Al, Ti, Sr, Zr. A model for polybaric magma evolution in the West Eifel is proposed: Primitive alkali basaltic magma rises through the upper mantle precipitating Al-augite en route. It stagnates and differentiates near the crust/mantle boundary crystallizing Fe-rich fassaitic augites. The magma differentiated at high pressure is subsequently mixed with new pulses of primitive magma from which the rims of pyroxene are crystallized. Sporadic alkali pyroxenite xenoliths are interpreted to represent cumulates of cognate phases formed within the crust and not metasomatized upper mantle material (Lloyd and Bailey 1975).