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Xenocrysts and xenoliths in Upper Cretaceous pyroclastics on Mount Carmel (northern Israel) represent a series of similar magma-fluid systems at different stages of their evolution, recording a continuous decrease in oxygen fugacity (fO2) as crystallization proceeded. Corundum coexisting with Fe-Mg-Cr-Al spinels, other Fe-Mg-Al-Na oxides, and Fe-Ni alloys in apparent cumulates crystallized at fO2 values near the iron-wüstite (IW) buffer (fO2 = IW±1) and is zoned from high-Cr cores to lower-Cr rims, consistent with fractional crystallization trends. The reconstructed parental melts of the cumulates are Al-Cr-Fe-Mg oxides with ca. 2 wt% SiO2. Corundum in other possible cumulates that contain Cr-Fe (Fe 45 wt%) alloys has low-Cr cores and still lower-Cr rims. Corundum coexisting with Cr0 (fO2 = IW-5) in some possible cumulates has low-Cr cores, but high-Cr rims (to >30% Cr2O3). These changes in zoning patterns reflect the strong decrease in the melting point of Cr2O3, relative to Al2O3, with decreasing fO2. The electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analyses show that all Cr in corundum that coexists with Cr0 is present as Cr3+. This suggests that late in the evolution of these reduced melts, Cr2+ has disproportionated via the reaction 3Cr2+(melt) → 2Cr3+(Crn) + Cr0. The most Cr-rich corundum crystallized together with β-alumina phases including NaAl11O17 (diaoyudaoite) and KAl11O17 (kahlenbergite) and β″-alumina phases; residual melts crystallized a range of (K,Mg)2(Al,Cr)10O17 phases with the kahlenbergite structure. The parental melts of these assemblages appear to have been Al-Cr-K-Na-Mg oxides, which may be related to the Al-Cr-Fe-Mg oxide melts mentioned above, through fractional crystallization or liquid immiscibility. These samples are less reduced (fO2 from IW to IW-5) than the assemblages of the trapped silicate melts in the more abundant xenoliths of corundum aggregates (fO2 = IW-6 to IW-10). They could be considered to represent an earlier stage in the fO2 evolution of an "ideal" Mt. Carmel magmatic system, in which mafic or syenitic magmas were fluxed by mantle-derived CH4+H2 fluids. This is a newly recognized step in the evolution of the Mt. Carmel assemblages and helps to understand element partitioning under highly reducing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A suite of eclogites from the Roberts Victor kimberlite has been extensively characterized in terms of petrology and geochemical compositions (Greau et al. in Geochim Cosmochim Acta 75(22):6927-6954, 2011; Huang et al. in Lithos 142-143:161-181, 2012a). In the present study, the water contents of eclogitic garnet and omphacite were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. Garnet does not contain measureable OH in any sample. The water content of omphacite in the studied eclogites ranges from 211 to 1,496 ppm. Mantle metasomatism has modified the water content of some of the eclogites, while others retain water contents characteristic of their original environment. The OH contents of the metasomatized eclogites may be mainly controlled by the [H.sub.2]O fugacity and mineral compositions. The OH contents of the non-metasomatized samples are interpreted to be more sensitive to their mantle equilibration temperature, pressure, and the local fugacities of [H.sub.2]O and [O.sub.2]. The calculated water content of the metasomatic medium is similar to that of carbonatitic-kimberlitic melts/fluids. Eclogites contain more water than peridotites recorded in the literature (341 ± 161 vs 122 ± 54 ppm) and represent an important water reservoir in the lithospheric mantle wherever they occur. This is an important parameter to be considered in the interpretation of mantle processes and geophysical data such as seismic wave speeds and electrical conductivity, and in geodynamic modeling. Keywords Eclogites * Xenoliths * Water content * Mantle metasomatism * Kaapvaal craton, Introduction Hydrogen (H), as one of the main volatile elements, plays an important role in Earth's evolution and dynamics (Dasgupta and Dixon 2009; and references therein). It is incorporated into [...]

Transformation of refractory cratonic mantle into more fertile lithologies is the key to the fate of cratonic lithosphere. This process has been extensively studied in the eastern North China Craton (NCC) while that of its western part is still poorly constrained. A comprehensive study of newly-found pyroxenite xenoliths from the Langshan area, in the northwestern part of this craton is integrated with a regional synthesis of pyroxenite and peridotite xenoliths to constrain the petrogenesis of the pyroxenites and provide an overview of the processes involved in the modification of the deep lithosphere. The Langshan pyroxenites are of two types, high-Mg# [Mg2+/(Mg2++Fe2+)*100 = ∼90, atomic ratios] olivine-bearing websterites with high equilibration temperatures (880–970 oC), and low-Mg# (70–80) plagioclase-bearing websterites with low equilibration temperatures (550–835 oC). The high-Mg# pyroxenites show trade-off abundances of olivine and orthopyroxene, highly depleted bulk Sr–Nd (εNd = +11·41, 87Sr/86Sr = ∼0·7034) and low clinopyroxene Sr isotopic ratios (mean 87Sr/86Sr = ∼0·703). They are considered to reflect the reaction of mantle peridotites with silica-rich silicate melts derived from the convective mantle. Their depletion in fusible components (e.g. FeO, TiO2 and Na2O) and progressive exhaustion of incompatible elements suggest melt extraction after their formation. The low-Mg# pyroxenites display layered structures, convex-upward rare earth element patterns, moderately enriched bulk Sr–Nd isotopic ratios (εNd = -14·20– -16·74, 87Sr/86Sr = 0·7070–0·7078) and variable clinopyroxene Sr-isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr = 0·706–0·711). They are interpreted to be crustal cumulates from hypersthene-normative melts generated by interaction between the asthenosphere and heterogeneous lithospheric mantle. Combined with studies on regional peridotite xenoliths, it is shown that the thinning and refertilization of the lithospheric mantle was accompanied by crustal rejuvenation and that such processes occurred ubiquitously in the northwestern part of the NCC. A geodynamic model is proposed for the evolution of the deep lithosphere, which includes long-term mass transfer through a mantle wedge into the deep crust from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic, triggered by subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and the Late Mesozoic lithospheric extension of eastern Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinel lherzolite and wehrlite xenoliths from the Cenozoic Calatrava volcanic field carry the geochemical imprint of metasomatic agents that have affected the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath Central Iberia. Some xenoliths (mainly wehrlites) were enriched in REE, Sr, P, and C[O.sub.2] by silicic-carbonate-rich metasomatic melts/ fluids, while others record the effects of subduction-related hydrous silicate fluids that have precipitated amphibole and induced high Ti/Eu in primary clinopyroxene. The petrographic observations and geochemical data suggest that interstitial glass in the xenoliths represent the quenched products of Si-rich melts that infiltrated the mantle peridotite shortly before the entrainment of the xenoliths in the host magmas that erupted ca 2 million years ago. During their infiltration, the metasomatic melts reacted with peridotite, resulting in silica enrichment, while remobilizing grains of iron-rich monosulfide solid solution (Fe-rich Mss) initially enclosed in, or intergranular to, primary olivine and pyroxenes. In situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry analysis of single sulfide grains reveals that the Fe-rich Mss in glass shows platinum-group element (PGE) patterns and [sup.187]Os/[sup.188]Os compositions identical to the Fe-rich Mss occurring as inclusions in, or at grain boundaries of primary silicates. Moreover, independent of its microstructural position, Fe-rich Mss exhibits PGE and [sup.187]Os/[sup.188]Os signatures typical of Mss either residual after partial melting or crystallized directly from sulfide melts. Our findings reveal that young metasomatic melt(s)/fluid(s) may carry remobilized sulfides with PGE and Os-isotopic signatures identical to those of texturally older sulfides in the peridotite xenolith. These sulfides thus still provide useful information about the timing and nature of older magmatic events in the subcontinental mantle. Keywords Mantle sulfides * Mantle xenoliths * Mantle metasomatism * Mantle melts * PGE and Re-Os signatures * Lithospheric mantle * Spain lithosphere, Introduction The in situ analysis of PGE and Re-Os isotopic compositions by laser sampling of individual sulfide grains in mantle xenoliths provides critical information on episodes of partial melting or [...]

Aggregates of corundum crystals with skeletal to hopper morphology occur in pyroclastic rocks erupted from Cretaceous basaltic volcanoes on Mt Carmel, N. Israel. The rapid growth of the crystals trapped volumes of the parental Al2O3-supersaturated melt; phenocrysts of tistarite (Ti2O3) in the trapped melts indicate crystallization at oxygen fugacities 6–7 log units below the Iron-Wüstite buffer (fO2 = ΔIW − 6 to − 7), induced by fluxes of mantle-derived CH4-H2 fluids. Cathodoluminescence images reveal growth zoning within the individual crystals of the aggregates, related to the substitution of Ti3+ in the corundum structure. Ti contents are < 0.3 wt% initially, then increase first linearly, then exponentially, toward adjacent melt pockets to reach values > 2 wt%. Numerical modelling indicates that the first skeletal crystals grew in an open system, from a moving magma. The subsequent linear increase in Ti reflects growth in a partially closed system, with decreasing porosity; the exponential increase in Ti close to melt pockets reflects closed-system growth, leading to dramatic increases in incompatible-element concentrations in the residual melts. We suggest that the corundum aggregates grew in melt/fluid conduits; diffusion modelling implies timescales of days to years before crystallization was terminated by explosive eruption. These processes probably operate in explosive volcanic systems in several tectonic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]