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Numerous ultramafic rocks occur as lens-shaped bodies in the Archaean continental crust exposed in southern West Greenland. As some of the oldest exposed ultramafic bodies, determining their origin, as mantle segments or magmatic cumulates, is an important yet controversial issue. The origin of these Archaean ultramafic rocks remains unclear, in-part because these rocks have undergone metasomatic modification since their formation, yet the effects of this metasomatism have so far not been assessed in detail, despite being crucial for understanding their geochemical evolution. Here, we examined the petrology, mineral and whole-rock chemistry of the largest ultramafic body located within the Mesoarchaean Akia terrane, known as the Ulamertoq ultramafic body, to elucidate the poly-metamorphic and metasomatic events that overprinted the protolith. Pronounced lithologic zoning from hydrous mineral-rich layers to orthopyroxene-rich ultramafic rocks at the boundaries between ultramafic rocks and the granitoid country rocks was formed locally by metasomatic reactions related to the granitoids. The main body of ultramafic rocks, far from the contacts, can be classified into four types based on mineral assemblage and chemistry. The fine-grained orthopyroxene aggregates and large poikilitic orthopyroxenes have low Cr2O3 and CaO contents, suggesting a secondary origin. Trace element compositions of orthopyroxene and/or amphibole in the main ultramafic rocks indicate that at least three types of metasomatic agents were required to form these minerals and the associated whole-rock chemical variations within the ultramafic body. Variations represent differences in the proportions of metasomatic orthopyroxene and/or amphibole and phlogopite added to a dunitic protolith. The main body of Ulamertoq ultramafics experienced metasomatism under granulite-facies. Retrograde cooling occurred, to 650°C-850°C and <1.8 GPa prior to local metasomatism via country-rock reaction. The presen

Discontinuous chains of ultramafic rock bodies form part of the 3800–3700 Ma Isua Supracrustal Belt (ISB), hosted in the Itsaq Gneiss Complex of southwestern Greenland. These bodies are among the world’s oldest outcrops of ultramafic rocks and hence an invaluable geologic record. Ultramafic rocks from Lens B in the northwestern limb of ISB show characteristics of several stages of serpentinization and deserpentinization forming prograde and retrograde mineral assemblages. Ti-rich humite-group minerals such as titanian chondrodite (Ti-Chn) and titanian clinohumite (Ti-Chu) often occur as accessory phases in the metamorphosed ultramafic rocks. The Ti-rich humite minerals are associated with metamorphic olivine. The host olivine is highly forsteritic (Fo96-98) with variable MnO and NiO contents. The concentrations of the rare-earth elements (REE) and high-field strength elements (HFSE) of the metamorphic olivine are higher than typical mantle olivine. The textural and chemical characteristics of the olivine indicate metamorphic origin as a result of deserpentinization of a serpentinized ultramafic protolith rather than primary assemblage reflecting mantle residues from high-degrees of partial melting. The close association of olivine, antigorite and intergrown Ti-Chn and Ti-Chu suggests pressure condition between ∼1.3–2.6 GPa within the antigorite stability field (

© The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nguyen, D. K., Morishita, T., Soda, Y., Tamura, A., Ghosh, B., Harigane, Y., France, L., Liu, C., Natland, J. H., Sanfilippo, A., MacLeod, C. J., Blum, P., & Dick, H. J. B. (2018). Occurrence of felsic rocks in oceanic gabbros from IODP hole U1473A: Implications for evolved melt migration in the lower oceanic crust. Minerals, 8(12), 583, doi:10.3390/min8120583., Felsic rocks are minor in abundance but occur ubiquitously in International Ocean Discovery Program Hole U1473A, Southwest Indian Ridge. The trace element abundances of high-Ti brown amphibole, plagioclase, and zircon in veins, as well as the presence of myrmekitic texture in the studied felsic rocks support crystallization origin from highly-evolved melts, probably controlled by fractional crystallization. Based on geochemical criteria and texture of the mineral assemblage in felsic rocks and their relationship with host gabbros, they can be divided into three types: (1) Felsic rock with sharp boundaries is formed when felsic melt intrudes into fractures of host gabbros, resulting in minimal interaction between the melt and the wall minerals. (2) Replacive felsic rock, which is characterized by a pseudomorphic replacement of minerals in the host gabbro. This vein type is caused by the replacement of the host mineralogy by minerals in equilibrium with the felsic melts. (3) Felsic rock with diffused boundaries is formed either by infiltration of felsic melt into the solidifying gabbro body or crystallization of interstitial melts. Infiltration modes of felsic melts are likely controlled by the temperature condition of the cooling host gabbros., This contribution is part of Du Khac Nguyen’s Ph.D. coursework at Kanazawa University with the funding provided by the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam (MOET) under grant number 950/Q -BGD T and Kanazawa University of Japan. This work was supported by Kanazawa University SAKIGAKE project and J-DESC post-cruise support funding.

A titanian clinohumite-bearing dunite was recently found in the Ulamertoq ultramafic body within the 3.0 Ga Akia Terrane of southern West Greenland. Titanian clinohumite occurs as disseminated and discrete grains. Titanian clinohumite contains relatively high amounts of fluorine, reaching up to 2.4 wt.%. The high-Fo content of olivine (Fo93) coupled with low Cr/(Cr + Al) ratio of orthopyroxene implies that the dunite host is not of residual origin after melt extraction by partial melting of the primitive mantle. Olivine grains are classified into two types based on abundances of opaque mineral inclusions: (1) dusty inclusion-rich and (2) clear inclusion-free olivines. Opaque inclusions in coarse-grained olivines are mainly magnetite. Small amounts of ilmenite are also present around titanian clinohumite grains. The observed mineral association indicates partial replacement of titanian clinohumite to ilmenite (+magnetite) and olivine following the reaction: titanian clinohumite = ilmenite + olivine + hydrous fluid. The coexistence of F-bearing titanian clinohumite, olivine, and chromian chlorite indicates equilibration at around 800–900 °C under garnet-free conditions (<2 GPa). Petrological and mineralogical characteristics of the studied titanian clinohumite-bearing dunite are comparable to deserpentinized peridotites derived from former serpentinites. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the effects of hydration/dehydration processes for the origin of ultramafic bodies found in polymetamorphic Archaean terranes.

Felsic rocks are minor in abundance but occur ubiquitously in International Ocean Discovery Program Hole U1473A, Southwest Indian Ridge. The trace element abundances of high-Ti brown amphibole, plagioclase, and zircon in veins, as well as the presence of myrmekitic texture in the studied felsic rocks support crystallization origin from highly-evolved melts, probably controlled by fractional crystallization. Based on geochemical criteria and texture of the mineral assemblage in felsic rocks and their relationship with host gabbros, they can be divided into three types: (1) Felsic rock with sharp boundaries is formed when felsic melt intrudes into fractures of host gabbros, resulting in minimal interaction between the melt and the wall minerals. (2) Replacive felsic rock, which is characterized by a pseudomorphic replacement of minerals in the host gabbro. This vein type is caused by the replacement of the host mineralogy by minerals in equilibrium with the felsic melts. (3) Felsic rock with diffused boundaries is formed either by infiltration of felsic melt into the solidifying gabbro body or crystallization of interstitial melts. Infiltration modes of felsic melts are likely controlled by the temperature condition of the cooling host gabbros.