Search

H2O, CO2, F, Cl and S concentrations in olivine-hosted melt inclusions (MI) from Cenozoic alkaline volcanics of Northern Victoria Land (NVL, Antarctica) were determined by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). The most undegassed H2O and CO2 values varies from 1.14 to 2.64 wt% H2O and from 2320 to 3900 ppm CO2 for the least differentiated alkaline basalts and basanites, respectively. The same MI have F and Cl contents varying from 471 to 888 and from 474 to 1135 respectively, although some other MI can get up to 1377 of F and 1336 of Cl. A H2O/(H2O + CO2) molar ratios from 0.88 to 0.92 were determined, and taking into account the MI with the highest water content, a CO2 content in the melts up to 4400 and 8800 ppm for basaltic and basanitic compositions were inferred. Assuming that these magmas were produced by about 3 to 7% of partial melting, the volatile content in the mantle sources were estimated and compared with the estimates obtained from amphibole-bearing mantle xenoliths abundantly entrained in the McMurdo basic lavas. The two approaches converge in obtaining the following values: H2O = 1160 ± 436 ppm; CO2 = 304 ± 64 ppm. Some discrepancies are observed for F and Cl, mainly due to the uncertainties in the F and Cl contents of amphibole and its modal content, both parameters spanning a rather large range. The resulting CO2/Nb and CO2/Ba ratios are lower and H2O/Ce higher than those estimated for Depleted MORB Mantle (DMM), suggesting that the NVL Cenozoic alkaline magmatism could be originated by an enriched mantle source composed by 60 to 70% Enriched Mantle (EM) and from 40 to 30% DMM. A global comparison of fluid-related, highly incompatible and immobile/low incompatible elements such as Li, K, Cl, Ba, Nb, Dy and Yb allow to put forward that the prolonged (~500 to 100 Ma) Ross subduction event played a fundamental role in providing the volatile budget to the lithospheric mantle before the onset of the Cenozoic continental rifting.

The Jurassic Chenaillet ophiolite in the Western Alps consists of a gabbro-mantle association exhumed to the seafloor through detachment faulting and partly covered by basaltic lavas. One of the Chenaillet gabbroic bodies includes mylonites that are transected by a network of felsic veins, thereby testifying to the interplay of ductile shearing and magma emplacement. The deformed gabbros preserve clinopyroxene porphyroclasts of primary magmatic origin, which are typically mantled by amphibole (titanian edenite) and minor secondary clinopyroxene. Titanian edenite and secondary clinopyroxene also occur as fine-grained syn-kinematic phases locally associated with fine-grained plagioclase. The felsic veins are made up of anorthite-poor plagioclase and minor titanian edenite. Geothermometric investigations document that the ductile gabbro deformation and the crystallization of the felsic veins occurred at 765650 C and 800655 C, respectively. With respect to undeformed counterparts, the deformed gabbros are variably enriched in SiO2 and variably depleted in Mg/(Mg þ Fe2þ tot ) and Ca/(Ca þ Na). In addition, the deformed gabbros show relatively high concentrations of incompatible trace elements such as rare earth elements (REE), Y, Zr and Nb. The felsic veins are characterized by low Mg/(Mg þ Fe2þ tot ) and Ca/(Ca þ Na), high SiO2 and high concentrations of incompatible trace elements. Relict clinopyroxene porphyroclasts from the deformed gabbros display a rather primitive, mid-ocean ridge-type geochemical signature, which contrasts with the trace element fingerprint of titanian edenite from both the deformed gabbros and the felsic veins. For instance, titanian edenite typically has relatively high REE abundances, with chondrite-normalized REE patterns characterized by a pronounced negative Eu anomaly. A similar trace element signature is shown by secondary clinopyroxene from the deformed gabbros. Amphibole from both the deformed gabbros and the felsic veins displays high F/Cl values. We show that the SiO2-rich hydrous melts feeding the felsic veins were involved in the hightemperature gabbro deformation and that melt-gabbro reactions led to major and trace element metasomatism of the deforming gabbros.

The iconic climate archive of Tenaghi Philippon (TP), NE Greece, allows the study of short-term palaeoclimatic and environmental change throughout the past 1.3 Ma. To provide high-quality age control for detailed palaeoclimate reconstructions based on the TP archive, (crypto)tephra studies of a peat core ‘TP-2005’ have been carried out for the 0–130 ka interval. The results show that the TP basin is ideally positioned to receive tephra fall from both the Italian and Aegean Arc volcanic provinces. Two visible tephra layers, the Santorini Cape Riva/Y-2 (c. 22 ka) and the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI)/Y-5 (c. 39.8 ka) tephras, and six primary cryptotephra layers, namely the early Holocene E1 tephra from the Aeolian Islands (c. 8.3 ka), the Campanian Y-3 (c. 29 ka) and X-6 tephras (c. 109.5 ka), as well as counterpart tephras TM-18-1d (c. 40.4 ka), TM-23-11 (c. 92.4 ka) and TM-33-1a (c. 116.7 ka) from the Lago Grande di Monticchio sequence (southern Italy), were identified along with repeatedly redeposited Y-2 and CI tephra material. Bayesian modelling of the ages of seven of the primary tephra layers, 60 radiocarbon measurements and 20 palynological control points have been applied to markedly improve the chronology of the TP archive. This revised chronology constrains the age of tephra TM-18-1d to 40.90–41.66 cal ka BP (95.4% range). Several tephra layers identified in the TP record form important isochrons for correlating this archive with other terrestrial (e.g., Lago Grande di Monticchio, Sulmona Basin and Lake Ohrid) and marine (e.g., Adriatic Sea core PRAD 1-2 and Aegean Sea core LC21) palaeoclimate records in the Mediterranean region.

Replacive mantle dunites are considered to be shallow pathways for extraction of mantle melts from their source region. Dunites offer a unique possibility to unravel the compositional variability of the melts produced in the upper mantle, before mixing and crystal fractionation modify their original signature. This study includes a quantification of H2O, Li and trace elements (Ni, Mn, Co, Sc, V, Ti, Zr, Y and HREE) in olivine from large replacive dunite bodies (>20 m) within a mantle section exposed in the Western Italian Alps (Lanzo South ophiolite). On the basis of olivine, clinopyroxene and spinel compositions, these dunites were previously interpreted to be formed by melts with a MORB signature. Variations in Ni, Mn, Co and Ca contents in olivine from different dunite bodies suggested formation by different melt batches. The variable H2O and Li contents of these olivines agree with this idea. Compared to olivine from residual peridotites and olivine phenocrysts in MORB (both having H2O 1 ppm), the Lanzo South dunite olivine has high H2O (18-40 ppm) and low Li (0.35-0.83 ppm) contents. Geochemical modelling suggests that the dunite-forming melts were produced by low melting degrees of a mixed garnet-pyroxenite-peridotite mantle source, with a contribution of a garnet pyroxenite component variable from 20 to 80%. The Lanzo dunites experienced migration of melts geochemically enriched and mainly produced in the lowermost part of the melting region. Extraction of enriched melts through dunite channels are probably characteristic of cold thermal regimes, where low temperatures and a thick mantle lithosphere inhibit mixing with melts produced at shallower depths.

No abtract available

Mantle xenoliths collected from Fuerteventura, one of the easternmost Canary Islands, exhibit a complex evolutionary history comprising events of depletion, serpentinization, dehydration and melt metasomatism. Each of these events left imprints on both the texture and chemistry of the xenoliths. Extensive partial melting is shown by complete lack of primary clinopyroxene, the ultra-refractory trace element composition of orthopyroxene porphyroclasts, and low heavy rare earth element contents as compared with abyssal peridotites sampled along mid-ocean ridges and oceanic fracture zones, in the xenoliths least affected by later metasomatism. In many xenoliths the original orthopyroxene porphyroclasts and some olivines are replaced by fibrous aggregates of orthopyroxene and/or large, deformed olivine porphyroclasts with mottled rims with stringy glass and fluid inclusions. Such features are very rare in ocean island xenoliths. Unusually high H2O and Cl concentrations, together with very high H2O/Ce and Cl/K ratios in interstitial glasses, suggest that the fibrous orthopyroxene formed by local serpentinization by hot seawater. The volume increase accompanying the serpentinization caused extensive fracturing of adjacent olivine porphyroclasts. The most likely scenario for local mantle invasion by hydrous fluids is along deep faults and fractures caused by tectonic movements along the continent-ocean transition during the early phases of the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The peridotites were later (probably during the Canary Islands magmatism) dehydrated, causing the serpentine minerals to be replaced by porous domains of fibrous orthopyroxene. Hydrous fluids released by the deserpentinization escaped into neighbouring and overlying rocks leaving trails of fluid inclusions along fractures and grain boundaries causing mottled rims and zones in olivine porphyroclasts. During the Canary Islands magmatism the upper mantle beneath Fuerteventura was also infiltrated by enriched silicate magmas that caused different degrees of Fe-Ti-metasomatism. A higher degree of melt metasomatism in rocks with fibrous orthopyroxene and mottled olivine than in the massive harzburgites strongly suggests that the sublithospheric Canarian magmas reused serpentinized extensional faults during their rise to the surface. The strongest degree of melt metasomatism appears to have resulted in the formation of lherzolites, wehrlites, and dunites.

Partitioning experiments between a basaltic melt from Mt. Etna and a low-density hydrous fluid or vapor containing H2O or H2O–CO2 were performed at 1200–1260 °C, at pressures between 1 and 200 MPa, either near the nickel–nickel oxide (NNO) buffer or at two log units above it (NNO+2), and with different chloride concentrations. Most of the experiments were done at chloride-brine-undersaturated conditions, although at the highest Cl concentrations explored brine saturation might have been reached. The average partition coefficients (DCl fluid/melt) over the range of Cl concentrations were derived on a weight basis by plotting the calculated concentrations of Cl in the fluid phase versus the measured ones in the melt. For H2O–Cl experiments in which the Cl concentration in the melt was ≤0.4 wt.%, a negative dependence between DClf/m and pressure is observed. DClfluid/melt in H2O+Cl-bearing experiments ranges between 11–14 at 1 and 25 MPa to 6 at 200 MPa at NNO; and between 4 at 50 MPa and 13 at 100 MPa at ΔNNO≥2. Addition of CO2 at NNO yields lower partition coefficients than in CO2-free conditions over the pressure range investigated. The negative pressure dependence observed for H2O–Cl experiments disappears when CO2 is present in the system. Overall, once CO2 is introduced in the system, Cl fugacity in the silicate melt tends to increase, thus resulting in a decrease of DCl f/m. Application to Mt. Etna shows that the composition of the volcanic plume in terms of Cl records very shallow pressures of magma equilibration with its exsolved fluid.

Despite the importance of halogens (F, Cl) in volcanic degassing, solubility and fluid/melt partitioning of these elements have not been comprehensively studied in natural basaltic melts. Experimental determinations of halogen solubility in Mount Etna melts are lacking, despite this volcano being one of the most active and intensively monitored on Earth with an estimated output of thousands tonnes of halogens per day. In order to better understand halogen degassing, we present the results of a series of halogen partitioning experiments performed at different pressures (1-200 MPa), redox conditions (from Δ NNO = + 2 to Δ NNO = - 0.3) and fluid compositions. Experiments used a hawaiitic, glassy, alkaline basalt with Mg# = 0.59, sampled during the July 2001 eruption of Mount Etna. A series of experiments were conducted using H2O-NaCl or H2O-NaF solutions. The effect of CO2 in multi-component fluid H2O-CO2-NaCl or H2O-CO2-NaF was also investigated. The experimental run products were mostly glasses, but a few run products contained less than 10% crystals. The concentration of halogens in the fluid phase after the experiment was calculated from mass balance, and the partition coefficients for both Cl and F at the studied conditions determined. Using these measurements and thermodynamical models, the dependence of these partition coefficients on the fugacities of various gaseous species was investigated.