Contrasted abyssal basalt liquidus trends: evidence for mantle major element heterogeneity

Natural submarine basalt glasses define liquidus trends which may be summarized as curvilinear regression lines in the normative plagioclase-pyroxene-olivine ternary. Individual basalt suites separated in time or space may differ in major element composition; these differences translate into systematic differences in normative plagioclase, leading to efficient discrimination of individual trends in this ternary. Comparison of two contrasted sets of trends to available experimental and petrographic data confirms the similarity of the natural basalt trends to those predicted by 1-atm experiments, in general agreement with earlier studies based on whole-rock data. These contasted liquidus trends are believed to reflect major element heterogeneity and varying degrees of melting of the mantle source. This major element heterogeneity is not simply correlated with heterogeneity in incompatible trace elements, and like incompatible trace element heterogeneity, there is growing evidence that it may vary abruptly in space and time. The existence of these compositionally contrasted basalt suites must be considered in petrogenetic modelling; specifically, they will introduce scatter in most generalized variation diagrams, and will increase the likelihood of “misfits” in fractionation calculations utilizing parent and residual compositions drawn from different suites.