High-pressure Partial Melting of Mafic Lithologies in the Mantle

We review experimental phase equilibria associated with partialmelting of mafic lithologies (pyroxenites) at high pressuresto reveal systematic relationships between bulk compositionsof pyroxenite and their melting relations. An important aspectof pyroxenite phase equilibria is the existence of the garnet–pyroxenethermal divide, defined by the enstatite–Ca-Tschermakspyroxene–diopside plane in CaO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂projections. This divide appears at pressures above 2 GPa inthe natural system where garnet and pyroxenes are the principalresidual phases in pyroxenites. Bulk compositions that resideon either side of the divide have distinct phase assemblagesfrom subsolidus to liquidus and produce distinct types of partialmelt ranging from strongly nepheline-normative to quartz-normativecompositions. Solidus and liquidus locations are little affectedby the location of natural pyroxenite compositions relativeto the thermal divide and are instead controlled chiefly bybulk alkali contents and Mg-numbers. Changes in phase volumesof residual minerals also influence partial melt compositions.If olivine is absent during partial melting, expansion of thephase volume of garnet relative to clinopyroxene with increasingpressure produces liquids with high Ca/Al and low MgO comparedwith garnet peridotite-derived partial melts. KEY WORDS: experimental petrology; mantle heterogeneity; partial melting; phase equilibrium; pyroxenite