Dehydration Melting of Metabasalt at 8-32 kbar: Implications for Continental Growth and Crust-Mantle Recycling

We report the results of partial melting experiments between8 and 32 kbar, on four natural amphibolites representative ofmetamorphosed Archean tholeiite (greenstone), high-alumina basalt,low-potassium tholeiite and alkali-rich basalt. For each rock,we monitor changes in the relative proportions and compositionof partial melt and coexisting residual (crystalline) phasesfrom 1000 to 1150C, within and beyond the amphibole dehydrationreaction interval. Low percentage melts coexisting with an amphiboliteor garnet amphibolite residue at 1000–1025C and 8–16kbar are highly silicic (high-K₂O granitic at 5%; melting, low-Al₂O₃trondhjemitic at 5–10%). Greater than 20% melting is onlyachieved beyond the amphibole-out phase boundary. Silicic tointermediate composition liquids (high-Al₂O₃ trondhjemitic-tonalitic,granodioritic, quartz dioritic, dioritic) result from 20–40%melting between 1050 and 1100C, leaving a granulite (plagioclase+ clinopyroxene orthopyroxene olivine) residue at 8 kbarand garnet granulite to eclogite (garnet + clinopyroxene) residuesat 12–32 kbar. Still higher degrees of melting ( 40–60%)result in mafic liquids corresponding to low-MgO, high-Al₂O₃basaltic and basaltic andesite compositions, which coexist withgranulitic residues at 8 kbar and edogitic or garnet granulitic(garnet + clinopyroxene + plagioclase orthopyroxene) residuesat higher pressures (12–28 kbar). As much as 40% by volumehigh-Al₂O₃ trondhjemitic-tonalitic liquid coexists with an eclogiticresidue at 1100–1150C and 32 kbar. The experimental datasuggest that the Archean tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite(TTG) suite of rocks, and their Phanerozoic equivalents, thetonalite-trondhjemite-dacite suite (including ‘adakites’and other Na-rich granitoids), can be generated by 10–40%melting of partially hydrated metabasalt at pressures abovethe garnet-in phase boundary (12 kbar) and temperatures between1000 and 1100C. Anomalously hot and/or thick metabasaltic crustis implied. Although a rare occurrence along modern convergentplate margins, subductionrelated melting of young, hot oceaniccrust (e.g. ocean ridges) may have been an important (essential)element in the growth of the continental crust in the Archean,if plate tectonic processes were operative. Coupled silicicmelt generation-segregation and mafic restite disposal may alsooccur at the base of continental or primitive (sub-arc?) crust,where crustal overthickening is a consequence of underplatingand overaccretion of mafic magmas. In either setting, net growthof continental crust and crustmantle recycling may be facilitatedby relatively high degrees of melting and extreme density contrastsbetween trondhjemitictonalitic liquids and garnet-rich residues.Continuous chemical trends are apparent between the experimentalcrystalline residues, and mafic migmatites and garnet granulitexenoliths from the lower crust, although lower-crustal xenolithsin general record lower temperatures (600–900C) and pressures(5–13 kbar) than corresponding residual assemblages fromthe experiments. However, geo-thermobarometry on eclogite xenolithsin kimberlites from the subcontinental mantle indicates conditionsappropriate for melting through and beyond the amphibole reactioninterval and the granulite-eclogite transition. If these samplesrepresent ancient (eclogitized) remnants of subducted or otherwisefoundered basaltic crust, then the intervening history of theirprotoliths may in some cases include partial melting. KEY WORDS: dehydration melting; metabasalt; continental growth; crust–mantle recycling ^*Corresponding author. Present address: Mineral Physics Institute and Center for High Pressure Research, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA