ALBERT

Notes: Abstract Major and trace element and 143Nd/144Nd (0.51209–0.51216) and 87Sr/86Sr (0.70879–0.71105) isotope analyses are presented on a representative group of lavas from the Vulsini district of the Roman magmatic province. Three distinct series are identified; the high-K and low-K series are similar to those described from other Italian volcanoes, while the third is represented by a group of relative ly undifferentiated leucite basanites which are thought to be near-primary mantle melts. Major and trace element variations within the high-K series are consistent with fractional crystallisation from a parental magma similar to the most magnesian leucitites. Crustal contamination resulted in an increase in 87Sr/86Sr with increasing fractionation, but it was superimposed on magmas which had already inherited a range of incompatible element and isotope ratios from enrichment processes in the sub-continental mantle. These are reviewed using the available results from Vulsini, Roccamonfina and Ernici. Transition element abundances and Ta/Yb ratios indicate that the pre-enrichment mantle was similar to that of E-type MORB, and that these elements were not mobilised by the enrichment process. Mixing calculations suggest that three components were involved in the enrichment process; mantle comparable with the source of MORB, and two other components rich in trace elements. One, the low-K component, had high Sr/Nd, Th/Ta and Ba/Nb and no europium anomaly while the second had lower Sr/Nd, a negative europium anomaly and very high Th/Ta. It was also characterised by low Nb/Ba and high Rb/Ba ratios, similar to those reported from phlogopite-rich peridotite xenoliths. The trace element enrichment processes are therefore thought to have occurred in the mantle wedge above a subduction zone with the trace element characteristics of the high-K end-member reflecting the subduction of sediments and the stabilisation of mantle phlogopite.

Notes: Abstract A coherent ophiolitic complex of pyroxenite, serpentinite, metagabbro, mafic volcanics, felsic volcanics and sediments crops out in NW Maine, adjacent to the Chain Lakes massif. The complex (here informally referred to as the Boil Mountain ophiolitic complex) is about 500 m.y. old. The volcanic sequence is not typical of ophiolites in that it contains a large proportion of felsic volcanics. The mafic volcanics are divided into two geochemical groups. A stratigraphically lower group is depleted in Ti, Zr, Y, Cr and REE contents similar to basalts from supra-subduction zone ophiolites. An upper mafic group has trace element contents similar to normal mid-ocean ridge basalts. The felsic volcanics are mostly rhyolitic and similar to low-K rhyolites found in the forearc of the Marianas trench and in an island arc sequence in the Klamath Mountains, California. The flat REE patterns of the felsic volcanic rocks are similar to those found in siliceous rocks in the Oman ophiolite. The presence of thick sequences of felsic volcanics, the abundance of pyroxenite, the low Ti, Zr and REE contents of some mafic rocks, the flat REE patterns of the felsic volcanics, and the composition of clinopyroxene all suggest the complex was formed in the vicinity of a subduction zone. The complex may be correlated with ophiolitic fragments in the eastern part of the Dunnage Zone in Newfoundland, rather than the main ophiolite belt of the western Appalachians.

Notes: [Auszug] SIR-Two recent contributions to Nature12 highlight the importance of the continen-tal lithospheric mantle to contemporary geochemistry. It is of interest both because it may represent a significant repository of incompatible trace elements that must be included in any model of the Earth's ...

Notes: [Auszug] Six clinopyroxene–almandine granulite facies xenoliths have been analysed for major, trace and rare earth elements. Preliminary microprobe analyses suggest an origin near the base of the crust at temperatures of 660–830 °C and pressures 〉 9 kbar. Major element analyses indicate ...

Notes: [Auszug] Rare earth element (REE), 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr analyses on a range of granulite xenoliths from kimberlite pipes in Lesotho demonstrate that useful whole rock ages can be obtained from such lower crustal material. The characteristic ...

Notes: [Auszug] A review of Sr- and Nd-isotope and selected trace element data in both within-plate basalts and mantle xenoliths suggests that at least two enrichment processes are active within the upper mantle. One is consistent with the migration of small volume silicate melts with ‘basanitic’ trace ...

Notes: Abstract The variations in trace element abundances of a suite of alkali-olivine basalts from the Big Pine volcanic field, California, have been ‘inverted’ following the method of Hofmann and co-workers to obtain source concentration and distribution coefficient data. The high Mg-numbers and ne-normative mineralogy of these lavas allow a simple correction to be made for fractional crystallisation, and together with a limited range in 87Sr/86Sr (0.7056–0.7064), suggest derivation from a relatively homogeneous source region. Negative correlations between SiO2 and P2O5, and SiO2 and Rb in the calculated primary magmas imply that both major and trace elements vary in a coherent fashion as a function of the degree of partial melting. The Big Pine lavas are characterised by high ratios of large-ion lithophile to high-field strength elements (Ba/Nb〉60), and the inverse procedure demonstrates that this reflects source concentrations, as opposed to a mineralogical control. The calculated mantle source is further characterised by generally high abundances of Sr, Ba, K, and Th relative to Nb and Ta which imply that incompatible element enrichment of the source occurred above a subduction zone. A model Sm/Nd age of 1.8 Ga for this enrichment coincides with the regional crustal formation age. Such features imply that both the major and trace element components of the Big Pine lavas are derived from within lithospheric mantle, perhaps mobilised by the high geothermal gradients which characterise the extensional environment of the Basin and Range Province. A comparison with other Cenozoic mafic lavas throughout the western United States suggests that a substantial proportion of the mantle lithosphere in this area has similar chemical characteristics to the source of the Big Pine lavas. If this is the case, then it implies that convergent margins represent an important tectonic environment for the formation of lithospheric mantle.

Notes: Abstract Lavas from Karisimbi, the largest volcano in the Virunga province in the Western Branch of the African rift on the Zaire-Rwandan border, constitute a suite of mafic potassic basanites and more evolved potassic derivatives. All of the lavas are potassic with K2O/Na2O≥1, and enriched in incompatible elements, with chondrite normalised (La/Yb)n〉18 and Nb/Zr〉0.25. The 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd ratios reflect these enriched compositions, varying from 0.7052 and 0.51258 respectively in the K-basanites to 0.7132 and 0.51226 in the most evolved K-trachyte, although at MgO abundances 〉4% there is no systematic variation of isotope ratios with fractionation. At 〉4% MgO, lava compositions were controlled by assimilation and fractional crystallization in a sub-volcanic magma chamber. Trace-element and isotope variations in the more mafic lavas appear to reflect mixing between a “primitive” K-basanite (PKB) magma and a Sr-rich end-member, similar to melilite nephelinites from the neighbouring volcano, Nyiragongo. Both endmembers are mantle-derived and isotopically distinct, with the PKB being characterised by 87Sr/86Sr up to 0.707 and 143Nd/144Nd as low as 0.51236. Alternatively, isotope variations may be the time-integrated response to trace-element fractionations in a variably enriched mantle source. The Pb isotope variations within Karisimbi are complex. In the more evolved lavas all three ratios increase coherently with fractionation, whereas in the mafic varieties 206Pb/204Pb remains roughly constant at ∼19.2 while 207Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb vary from 15.67 to 15.78 and 39.49 to 40.80 respectively, defining sub-vertical trends, consistent with PKB-nephelinite magma mixing. The Nd and Sr isotopes indicate trace-element fractionation in the PKB source at ∼1 Ga, similar to ages derived from the overlying crust and suggesting a lithospheric origin. Elevated 208Pb/204Pb and 208Pb*/206Pb* values of the PKB are also consistent with Th/U fractionation at a similar time. However, this 1Ga age contrasts with that derived from the elevated 207Pb/204Pb ratios which indicate U/Pb fractionation during the Archaean. Crustal contamination can be excluded as the major control of Pb isotope variation in the PKB because their high Ce/Pb ratios (∼27) are similar to those typical of oceanic basalts. Parent/daughter trace-element fractionation and the high Ti, Nb and Ta abundances of the PKB lavas are all consistent with enrichment of a lithospheric source region by small-degree silicate melts at ∼1Ga. Comparison between measured and time-integrated trace-element ratios suggests that the degree of melting associated with recent magmatism was ≥5%. These data show that significant Th/U and Rb/Sr fractionation can be produced by intra-mantle melting processes and that high 208Pb/204Pb and 208Pb*/206Pb* values can evolve within the upper mantle and do not necessarily require the recycling of crustal material. Comparable isotope features in continental flood basalts and DUPAL ocean island basalts may be explained in a similar way.