Incompatible element

About: Incompatible element is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2420 publications have been published within this topic receiving 154052 citations.

Geochemistry of spinel-hosted amphibole inclusions in abyssal peridotite: insight into secondary melt formation in melt–peridotite reaction

Abstract: Spinel-hosted hydrous silicate mineral inclusions are often observed in dunite and troctolite as well as chromitite. Their origin has been expected as products associated with melt–peridotite reaction, based on the host rock origin. However, the systematics in mineralogical and geochemical features are not yet investigated totally. In this study, we report geochemical variations of the spinel-hosted pargasite inclusions in reacted harzburgite and olivine-rich troctolite collected from Atlantis Massif, an oceanic core complex, in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The studied samples are a good example to examine geochemical variations in the inclusions because the origin and geological background of the host rocks have been well constrained, such as the reaction between MORB melt and depleted residual harzburgite beneath the mid-ocean ridge spreading center. The trace-element compositions of the pargasite inclusions are characterized by not only high abundance of incompatible elements but also the LREE and HFSE enrichments. Distinctive trace-element partitioning between the pargasite inclusion and the host-rock clinopyroxene supports that the secondary melt instantaneously formed by the reaction is trapped in spinel and produces inclusion minerals. While the pargasite geochemical features can be interpreted by modal change reaction of residual harzburgite, such as combination of orthopyroxene decomposition and olivine precipitation, degree of the LREE enrichment as well as variation of HREE abundance is controlled by melt/rock ratio in the reaction. The spinel-hosted hydrous inclusion could be embedded evidence indicating melt–peridotite reaction even if reaction signatures in the host rock were hidden by other consequent reactions.

Petrological imaging of an active pluton beneath Cerro Uturuncu, Bolivia

Abstract: Uturuncu is a dormant volcano in the Altiplano of SW Bolivia. A present day ~70 km diameter interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) anomaly roughly centred on Uturuncu’s edifice is believed to be a result of magma intrusion into an active crustal pluton. Past activity at the volcano, spanning 0.89 to 0.27 Ma, is exclusively effusive and almost all lavas and domes are dacitic with phenocrysts of plagioclase, orthopyroxene, biotite, ilmenite and Ti-magnetite plus or minus quartz, and microlites of plagioclase and orthopyroxene set in rhyolitic groundmass glass. Plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions (MI) are rhyolitic with major element compositions that are similar to groundmass glasses. H2O concentrations plotted versus incompatible elements for individual samples describe a trend typical of near-isobaric, volatile-saturated crystallisation. At 870 °C, the average magma temperature calculated from Fe–Ti oxides, the average H2O of 3.2 ± 0.7 wt% and CO2 typically 0.5 Ma compared to those <0.5 Ma. High microlite contents of domes indicate that effusion rates were probably slowest in dome-forming eruptions. Linear trends in WR major and trace element chemistries, highly variable, bimodal mineral compositions, and the presence of mafic enclaves in lavas demonstrate that intrusion of more mafic magmas into the evolving, shallow plutonic mush also occurred further amplifying local temperature fluctuations. Crystallisation and resorption of accessory phases, particularly ilmenite and apatite, can be detected in MI and groundmass glass trace element covariation trends, which are oblique to WRs. Marked variability of Ba, Sr and La in MI can be attributed to temperature-controlled, localised crystallisation of plagioclase, orthopyroxene and biotite within the evolving mush.