ALBERT

Notes: Abstract 87Sr/86Sr ratios of alkali olivine basalts, nepheline basanites and olivine nephelinites of Miocene age from the northern Hessian Depression vary between 0.7032 and 0.7036. Tholeiitic rocks from this area, which are possibly affected by crustal contamination, have more radiogenic Sr (0.7035 to 0.7042). Peridotite xenoliths with coarse protogranular (10 samples) and with porphyroclastic textures (2 samples) contain K- and Na-rich glasses which are products of reaction of metasomatic fluids with depleted peridotite. The Sr abundance in xenoliths is related to the amount of glass (and phlogopite). Sr ranges from 11 ppm to 147 ppm and 87Sr/86Sr ratios from 0.7033 to 0.7039. The isotopic ratios are neither correlated with Sr concentrations nor with Rb/Sr ratios. 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios of etched clinopyroxenes range from 0.7028 to 0.7040. In some xenoliths, clinopyroxenes differ from the whole rock samples significantly in their isotopic composition. If almost all of the pre-metasomatic Sr was located in the clinopyroxenes, the metasomatically introduced Sr ranges from 35 to 80% of the whole rock Sr. The calculated isotopic composition ranges from 0.7033 to 0.7040 for the majority of the xenoliths. For two pyroxenes which are not in isotopic equilibrium with the whole rock, the age of the metasomatic event could be estimated on the base of diffusion of Sr in clinopyroxene. Even assuming a diffusion coefficient as low as 10−15 cm2s−1 the time between the metasomatic alteration and the eruption of the basaltic host magma must be shorter than 1 Ma. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the basalts are interpreted as products of mixtures of a depleted component (∼ 0.7028) and metasomatic fluids (0.7035–0.7053) in their source peridotite.

Notes: Abstract High temperature (1150–1250 °C), coarse-grained olivine-bearing clinopyroxenites occur in the ash-tuffs of the Dreiser Weiher maar-type volcano (West Eifel, Germany) as discrete xenoliths or as 1-5-cm-broad veins crosscutting anhydrous spinel peridotite host xenoliths. The clinopyroxenes (cpx) of these xenoliths have been analysed for trace element and Nd-Sr isotope compositions in order to document intra-suite variations and to constrain the processes involved in the formation of heterogeneities within a relatively well defined upper mantle section beneath the West Eifel. The patterns formed by cpx from the pyroxenites on multi-element diagrams are subparallel and convex-upward, showing troughs for high-field-strength elements (Nb, Zr, Hf, Ti) and Sr. Trace element modelling indicates that these pyroxenites represent high pressure precipitates of magmas that are more primitive or similar in compositions to the most undifferentiated Cenozoic alkali basaltic lavas from the West Eifel. The cpx cover the whole spectrum of Nd-Sr isotope compositions shown by the primitive lavas from the entire West Eifel volcanic field suggesting isotopic heterogeneity on the scale of an individual volcanic centre. Due to incomplete re-equilibration between the vein melts and the peridotitic wall rocks, cpx of the host peridotites of the composite xenoliths (that belong to the 1b-group of Stosch and Seck, 1980) have in some cases retained relics of a pre-vein host composition. The relic cpx range from LREE-depleted to LREE-enriched with isotope signatures indicating a time-integrated higher enrichment (lower 143Nd/144Nd and higher 87Sr/86Sr) than the cpx of the corresponding veins. The trace element and isotope compositions of the xenoliths support the perception that magmas generated from sub-lithospheric mantle sources beneath the West Eifel formed a system of narrow dike networks and differentiated during their ascent through the lithosphere (Duda and Schmincke 1985). The data provide evidence that: (1) melts parental to the Dreiser Weiher pyroxenites are genetically related to the young alkali basaltic volcanics; (2) these melts can be derived from distinct domains of the mantle beneath Dreiser Weiher ranging in Sr-Nd isotope signatures from HIMU-like to Bulk-Silicate-Earth values; (3) the enrichment process associated with the upwards migration of these magmas was spatially limited to a cm-scale in the case of the studied composite xenoliths; (4) parts of the Dreiser Weiher lithosphere have experienced an enrichment prior to the vein interaction by a metasomatic agent that is isotopically unrelated to the primitive West Eifel lavas.

Notes: Abstract Anhydrous and amphibole-bearing peridotite xenoliths occur in roughly equal quantitites in the Bartoy volcanic field about 100 km south of the southern tip of Lake Baikal in Siberia (Russia). Whole-rock samples and pure mineral separates from nine xenoliths have been analyzed for Sr and Nd isotopes in order to characterize the upper mantle beneath the southern Baikal rift zone. In an Sr-Nd isotope diagram both dry and hydrous xenoliths from Bartoy plot at the junction between the fields of MORB and ocean island basalts. This contrasts with data available on two other localities around Lake Baikal (Tariat and Vitim) where peridotites typically have Sr−Nd isotope compositions indicative of strong long-term depletion in incompatible elements. Our data indicate significant chemical and isotopic heterogeneity in the mantle beneath Bartoy that may be attributed to its position close to an ancient suture zone separating the Siberian Platform from the Mongol-Okhotsk mobile belt and occupied now by the Baikal rift. Two peridotites have clinopyroxenes depleted in light rare earth elements (LREE) with Sr and Nd model ages of about 2 Ga and seem to retain the trace element and isotopic signatures of old depleted lithospheric mantle, while all other xenoliths show different degrees of LREE-enrichment. Amphiboles and clinopyroxenes in the hydrous peridotites are in Sr−Nd isotopic disequilibrium. If this reflects in situ decay of 147Sm and 87Rb rather than heterogeneities produced by recent metasomatic formation of amphiboles then 300–400 Ma have passed since the minerals were last in equilibrium. This age range then indicates an old enrichment episode or repeated events during the Paleozoic in the lithospheric mantle initially depleted maybe ∼2 Ga ago. The Bartoy hydrous and enriched dry peridotites, therefore, are unlikely to represent fragments of a young asthenospheric bulge which, according to seismic reflection studies, reached the Moho at the axis of the Baikal rift zone a few Ma ago. By contrast, hydrous veins in peridotites may be associated with rift formation processes.

Notes: Abstract Ijolites from the type locality at Iivaara, Finland, form a continuous series of magmatic rocks ranging from urtites to melteigites. Both Ni and Cr, but also the large ion lithophile light-rare-earth elements, Zr, Hf, Nb, Rb, Sr and Ba are low in concentration. The Nd contents equal those of the neighboring fenites, Sr is distinctly less abundant, and there is no significant Eu anomaly. The 143Nd/144Nd and 87Sr/86Sr of the ijolites demonstrate a systematic covariation between the data of carbonaties from the Kola Alkaline Province (ɛSr − 13.8, ɛNd + 5.6) and those of the fenites at Iivaara (ɛSr + 132.9, ɛNd − 24.7) with ɛSr varying from +0.3 to +23.9 and ɛNd varying from-9.2 to-19.3. The trace element abundances and the isotopic data give evidence for a crystallization of the rocks from a liquid generated by melting (rheomorphism) of high-grade fenitized country rocks rather than from a primary mantle-derived magma which was contaminated at crustal levels. The fenitization of wall rocks preceding the ijolite magma formation was clement selective. Mixing of elements during the fenitization process between the designated components carbonatite (or derivative fenitizing fluid) and wall rock should have been dynamical depending on the stability of the wall rock mineral assemblages in contact with the fenitizing fluids, the migration velocity of these fluids, and their capacity of the respective elements. Such dynamical mixing explains best the variation of the isotope ratios withont systematic covariation of the respective element concentrations.

Notes: Zusammenfassung Die Mischkristallbildungen von Muskovit und Paragonit spiegeln in den niedriggradig metamorphen Peliten des Venn-Stavelot Massivs, Ardennen, inkonsistente Äquilibrierungstemperaturen wider. Während Paragonit weitgehend konstante chemische Zusammensetzungen aufweist, variieren die Zusammensetzungen des Muskovits in weiten Grenzen. Diese Divergenz wird auf Ungleichgewichte zwischen den beiden Glimmern zurückgeführt. Der Grad des Ungleichgewichts ist zum einen von der tektonischen Durchbewegung der Gesteine, zum anderen von der Mineralvergesellschaftung in den verschiedenen Gesteinen abhängig. Durch eine Extrapolation über den Grad des Ungleichgewichts lassen sich in grober Näherung jedoch chemische Zusammensetzungen für die Glimmer erschließen, die eine metamorphe Beanspruchung für die Gesteine beschreiben, wie sie auch durch andere petrologische Indikatoren angezeigt wird. Innerhalb der Fehlergrenzen entsprechen die Zusammensetzungen des Paragonits dieser “Gleichgewichtszusammensetzung”, die Muskovitzusammensetzungen weichen jedoch zum Teil stark ab. Eine Erklärung für das unterschiedliche Verhalten der Glimmer bei der Gleichgewichtseinstellung bietet möglicherweise die unterschiedlich starke Fixierung von Na und K in Schichtsilikaten.

Notes: Zusammenfassung Die hangenden tertiären Schichteinheiten der Rheinischen Braunkohle sind im Tagebau Frechen der Rheinische Braunkohlenwerke AG teils sideritisch, teils markasitisch-pyritisch vererzt. Beide Vererzungsarten sind postsedimentär und können daher nicht direkt als Milieuindikatoren für das Sedimentationsmilieu der Ablagerungen interpretiert werden. Die Existenz der Sideritgeoden, auf die tonigen Sedimente der Indener Schichten beschränkt, legt jedoch eine Ablagerung der Geodenmatrix in einem von Moorwässern bestimmten, limnischen Milieu nahe, da nur hier die Voraussetzungen für eine geologisch relevante Bereitstellung von Eisen gegeben erscheinen. Es wird angenommen, daß dieses zur Sideritbildung notwendige Eisen zunächst bevorzugt als Humat in die Tone eingelagert wurde. Im Rahmen der postsedimentären Oxidation organischer Substanzen bildeten sich dann CO2-reiche Porenlösungen, in denen das Eisen, einem pH-Gefälle folgend, erneut transportiert und unter hohen pH-Werten schließlich als Siderit ausgefällt wurde. Markasit und Pyrit deuten eine ähnliche pH-Entwicklung der sie bildenden Porenlösungen an. Auch hier beobachtet man mit der Zeit eine Zunahme der Basizität der Lösungen, ausgedrückt in der Ausscheidungsfolge Markasit-Pyrit. In tonigen Sedimenten, mit geschlossenen Mikrosystemen der Porenräume, wird diese Folge nur einmal durchlaufen, in Sanden und Kiesen deuten wiederholte Ausscheidungen von Markasit und Pyrit ein offenes Porensystem an, in das im Verlauf der Diagenese auch jüngere Grundwässer Ehund pH-bestimmend eingreifen konnten.