Petrochemical Study of Mantle Xenoliths in Alkali Basalts from South Korea: P/T Regime of the Upper Mantle

Mantle xenoliths in alkali basalt at three locations in South Korea—Boun, the Gansung area, and Baegryung Island—are spinel lherzolites composed of olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and spinel. The xenoliths generally display triple junctions between grains, kink-banding in olivine and pyroxenes, and protogranular and equigranular textures, with no preferred crystal orientation. Anhedral brown spinels occur interstitially. Minerals in lherzolites from each of the three localities are compositionally homogeneous. Olivine compositions have Fo_89.0 to Fo_90.2, low CaO (.03 to 0.12 wt%), and NiO of 0.34 to 0.40 wt%; the orthopyroxene is enstatite with En_89.0 to En_90.0 Al₂O₃ of 4 to 5 wt%; the clinopyroxene is diopside with En_47.2 to En_49.1 and Al₂O₃ of 7.42 to 7.64 wt% from Boun and 4.70 to 4.91 wt% from Baegryung. Spinel chemistry shows a distinct negative trend, with increasing Al corresponding with decreasing Cr, and Mg# and Cr# of 75.1 to 81.9 and 8.5 to 12.6, respectively.

Temperatures and pressures of equilibration for these mantle xenoliths were estimated using various pyroxene geothermometers (Wood and Banno, 1973; Wells, 1977; Mercier, 1980; Sachtleben and Seck, 1981; Bertrand and Mercier, 1985; Brey and Köhler, 1990) and the Al-solubility geobarometer (Mercier, 1980; Lane and Ganguly, 1980). Temperature estimates from the recipes of Mercier (1980) and Sachtleben and Seck (1981) are compatible. The equilibrium temperatures of these xenoliths, taken as the average obtained from these two methods, lie between 970 and 1020° C, and equilibrium pressures derived from Mercier (1980) fall within the range of 12 to 19 kbar (i.e., 42 to 63 km). These temperatures and pressures are reinforced by considerations of the Al-isopleths in the MAS system (Lane and Ganguly, 1980), as adjusted for the Fe effect on Al solubility in orthopyroxene (Lee and Ganguly, 1988).

The equilibrium temperatures and pressures of xenoliths, as considered in P/T space, belong to the oceanic geotherm, based upon the various mantle geotherms presented by Mercier (1980). This geotherm is completely different from continental geotherms, e.g., from South Africa (Lesotho) and southern India. Mineral compositions of spinel-lherzolites in South Korea and eastern China are primitive; paleogeotherms of both are quite similar, but degrees of depletion of the upper mantle could vary locally. This is demonstrated by eastern China, which has various depleted xenoliths caused by different degrees of partial melting.