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There is still debate whether Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are caused by high mantle temperatures induced by thermal plumes or by other factors that enhance melt production from the mantle. A prerequisite for assessing the thermal plume model is a reliable estimate of liquidus temperatures of the magmas produced, preferably based on more than one method of geothermometry. The study reported here compares multiple geothermometers for the Etendeka LIP, which is among the largest Phanerozoic examples and one that shows several features suggestive of a plume origin (continental flood basalt province linked via an age-progressive volcanic ridge to an active hotspot). Magnesium (Mg)-rich magmas emplaced as dikes in NW Namibia are the most primitive rocks known from this province and are thus best suited to determine the composition and melting conditions of their mantle source. Earlier studies of the Etendeka Mg-rich dikes reported high liquidus temperatures based on olivine-melt Mg–Fe equilibria. We extend that work to a larger set of samples and compare the results of olivine-melt Mg–Fe thermometry with other methods based on spinel-melt and spinel–olivine equilibria (Al-in-olivine thermometry), as well as olivine-melt trace-element exchange (Sc/Y thermometry and V oxybarometry). All methods used the same starting assumptions of nominally anhydrous melts and a crystallization pressure of 0·5 GPa. Only mineral-melt or mineral-mineral pairs consistent with compositional equilibrium were used for calculating temperatures. The trace-element compositions of olivine are also used to discuss the relative proportion of peridotite and pyroxenite in the mantle source for these magmas. Twelve dike samples were studied, with whole-rock MgO concentrations ranging from 8·4 to 19·4 wt %. Diagnostic element ratios of transition metals in olivine (e.g. Mn/Fe, Mn/Zn, Zn/Fe) indicate a peridotite-dominated mantle source for the magmas, which is consistent with the other indicators based on whole-rock data e.g. 10 000×Zn/Fe, CaO–MgO trend, FeO/MnO and FC3MS (FeO/CaO–3×MgO/SiO2). The temperature variations show a positive correlation with the Fo-content of host olivines, and values from high-Fo olivine agree well with olivine and spinel liquidus temperatures calculated from thermodynamic models of bulk-rock composition. All methods and most samples yielded a temperature range between 1300 °C and 1400 °C. An exceptional few samples returned temperatures below 1300 °C, the minimum being 1193 °C, whereas several samples yielded temperatures above 1400 °C, the upper range being 1420–1440°C, which we consider to be a robust estimate of the maximum liquidus temperatures for the high-Mg magmas studied. The conversion to mantle potential temperatures is complicated by uncertain depth and degree of melting, but the functional relationship between T p and primary melt MgO contents, using melt inclusions from olivine phenocrysts with of Fo > 90, indicate a T p range from 1414 to 1525 °C (42 °C), which is 100–150°C higher than estimates of ambient upper mantle T p in the South Atlantic today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Henties Bay-Outjo dyke swarm (HOD) in NW Namibia presents a well-exposed example of the magma feeder system for continental flood basalts. This study uses bulk-rock, mineral and melt inclusion compositions from dyke samples to define pressure–temperature crystallization conditions and thus contributes to the understanding of the magma plumbing and storage beneath the province. The thermobarometry calculations for near-equilibrium mineral–melt pairs (the latter proxied by whole-rock) indicate olivine crystallization at ~1170 to 1350°C and lower, overlapping, temperatures for clinopyroxene and plagioclase (~1070 to 1210°C) in keeping with the order of crystallization inferred from petrographic observation. The dykes yielding the highest temperatures (>1300°C) are in a specific region of the HOD near the litho-tectonic boundary of the Neoproterozoic Kaoko and Damara Belts, where magma permeability of the crust may have been enhanced. Pressure estimates from clinopyroxene–melt pairs range from 0 to 10kbar overall (13 dykes) indicating polybaric crystallization. The lowest pressures are recorded by clinopyroxene oikocrysts intergrown with plagioclase, which likely represent the dyke emplacement depths. Clinopyroxene phenocrysts and plagioclase-free oikocryst cores yield a higher range of crystallization pressures at 4–6kbar, corresponding to mid-crustal depths of 11–17km. There is no spatial pattern in the pressure variations, suggesting a rather uniform level of magma stagnation and crystallization in all areas of the HOD. Partial crystallization at intermediate depths is consistent with the inference of entrained crystals and with geochemical evidence for crystal accumulation in some of the dykes. Comparison of model magma densities and the crustal density derived from seismic velocity profiles suggest the dyke magmas had positive buoyancy in the lower- and middle crust and near-neutral buoyancy in the upper crust. The depth of magma stagnation or pooling at 11–17km depth may relate to this or to the brittle–ductile transition in the felsic Damara crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]