The hafnium paradox and the role of garnet in the source of mid-ocean-ridge basalts

Nature ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 342 (6248) ◽  
pp. 420-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent J. M. Salters ◽  
Stanley R. Hart
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sobhi Nasir

<p>The Masirah ophiolite is one of the few true ocean ridge ophiolites that have been preserved (Rollinson, 2017) and lacks any indication that it formed in a subduction environment. The Masirah ophiolite in south-eastern Oman is a different and older ophiolite from the more famous northern Oman ophiolite. Chromite and copper ores comprise large deposits in the Samail ophiolite, northern Oman. In comparison, chromite and copper deposits have not been described in previous reports or previous exploration in Masirah ophiolite. Rollinson (2017) has proposed that the apparent absence of chromitites in the mantle section of Masirah ophiolite is an important discriminant between subduction related and ocean ridge ophiolites.  However, during recent studies on the Batain ophiolite mélange, and Masirah ophiolite, several chromitite pods have been discovered. The chromitites occur as separated small concordant, lenticular pods (3–10 m in thickness), which have been extensively altered and deformed, with the host pyroxenite serpentinites serpentinized harzburgites and dunites. The largest chromitite pods found within the pyroxenite and dunite of Masirah are up to 10 m across.  Unusual minerals and mineral inclusions (orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, amphibole, phlogopite, serpentine, native Fe, FeO, alloy, sulfide, calcite, laurite, celestine and halite) within chromite have been observed in the chromitites from the  Masirah ophiolites.  The existence of hydrous silicate inclusions in the chromite calls for a role of hydration during chromite genesis. Both  phlogopite and hornblende were possibly formed from alkali-rich hydrous fluids/melts trapped within the chromite during the chromitite formation. High-T green hornblende and phlogopite included in the chromites is evidence of the introduction of water in the magma at the end of the chromite crystallization. Such paragenesis points to the presence of hydrous fluids during the activity of the shear bands. The chromitites parental magmas are rich in K, Na, LREE, B, Cs, Pb, Sr, Li, Rb and U relative to HREE, reflecting the alkalic fluids/melts that prevailed during the chromitites genesis.</p><p>The mineral inclusions  in association with host peridotites may have been brought by the uprising asthenosphere at mid-oceanic ridges due to the mantle convection. It appears that this chromite has been formed through reaction between amid-ocean-ridge basalt-melt with depleted harzburgite in the uppermost mantle.  The chromitite deposits have similar cr# (55-62% Al-chromitites), mg# Al2O3 and TiO2 contents to spinels found in MORB, and have been interpreted as having formed in amid-ocean ridge setting.  This suggests that this chromitites is residual from lower degree, partial melting of peridotite, which produced low-Cr# chromitites at the Moho transition zone, possibly in a mid-ocean-ridge setting. The chemistry of both mineral inclusions and chromite   suggests MORB-related tectonic setting for the chromitites that were crystallized at 1000 °C–1300 °C under pressures <3 GPa . The host peridotites were generated during the proto-Indian Ocean MORB extension and emplaced as a result of the obduction of the ophiolite over the Oman Continental margin during Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene.</p><p>Rollinson, H., 2017. Geoscience Frontiers, 8: 1253–1262.</p>


Lithos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 274-275 ◽  
pp. 240-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Voigt ◽  
Laurence A. Coogan ◽  
Anette von der Handt

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhong Chen ◽  
Yaoling Niu ◽  
Meng Duan ◽  
Hongmei Gong ◽  
Pengyuan Guo

AbstractThe iron isotope contrast between mid-ocean ridge basalts and abyssal peridotites is far greater than can be explained by mantle melting alone. Here we investigate a suite of mid-ocean ridge magma chamber rocks sampled by the Ocean Drilling Project Hole 735B in the Atlantis Bank of the Indian Ocean. We report major and trace element geochemistry from these rocks and measure their iron isotope compositions to investigate the potential role of fractional crystallization during melt evolution. We observe a large range of δ56Fe that defines a significant inverse curvilinear correlation with bulk rock MgO/FeOT. These data confirm that δ56Fe in the melt increases as fractional crystallization proceeds but, contrary to expectation, δ56Fe continues to increase even when oxides begin to crystallize. We conclude that iron isotope fractionation through fractional crystallization during the evolution of mid-ocean ridge basalts from abyssal peridotites reconciles the disparity in isotopic compositions between these two lithologies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Molitor ◽  
Oliver Jagoutz ◽  
Leigh Royden ◽  
Stephanie Brown ◽  
Guido Port ◽  
...  

<p>As a young, mid ocean ridge, the Red Sea is a unique natural laboratory for studying the processes that drive continental rifting and breakup. The role of hot spots, frequently attributed to mantle plumes, in triggering or driving breakup and their impact on crustal structure and topography is not well understood. We have found that the Red Sea ridge bears a resemblance to the Reykjanes ridge in terms of bathymetry, morphology, geophysical properties, basalt chemistry, and modelled melting temperature and pressure of primary basalts. The results of modelling basalt melting temperature call into question the role of mantle temperature on generating excess melt beneath the Red Sea and Reykjanes ridges. Within 300 kilometers of a hotspot center, determined by seismic tomography, mantle excess temperatures are as high as 300 degrees relative to an ambient mantle temperature of about 1300 C. Outside of this radius excess temperatures are not significant (less than 50 C), and unlikely to cause significant melting anomalies. It is likely that the southern Red Sea and northern Reykjanes ridge are directly affected by hot, buoyant upwelling from the Afar and Iceland mantle plumes, and the central Red Sea and southern Reykjanes ridge may be affected by dynamic pressure related to actively upwelling mantle around the mantle plumes.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 511 ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sanfilippo ◽  
V. Salters ◽  
R. Tribuzio ◽  
A. Zanetti

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yung Ping Lee ◽  
◽  
Jonathan E. Snow ◽  
Yongjun Gao
Keyword(s):  

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