ON HEAT SOURCE IN SUBDUCTION ZONE

The subduction of an oceanic plate is studied as the motion of a high-viscosity Newtonian fluid. The subducting plate spreads along the 670-km depth boundary under the influence of oppositely directed horizontal forces. These forces are due to oppositely directed horizontal temperature gradients. We consider the flow structure and heat transfer in the layer that includes both the oceanic lithosphere and the crust and moves underneath a continent. The heat flow is estimated at the contact between the subducting plate and the surrounding mantle in the continental limb of the subduction zone. Our study results show that the crustal layer of the subducting plate can melt and a thermochemical plume can form at the 670-km boundary. Our model of a thermochemical plume in the subduction zone shows the following: (1) formation of a plume conduit in the crustal layer of the subducting plate; (2) formation of a primary magmatic chamber in the area wherein the melting rate equals the rate of subduction; (3) origination of a vertical plume conduit from the primary chamber melting through the continent; (4) plume eruption through the crustal layer to the surface, i.e. formation of a volcano. Our experiments are aimed to model the plume conduit melting in an inclined flat layer above a local heat source. The melt flow structure in the plume conduit is described. Laboratory modeling have revealed that the mechanisms of melt eruption from the plume conduit differ depending on whether a gas cushion is present or absent at the plume roof.

Megacrysts of “bubbled” kaersutite in the Neogene-Quaternary of Western Syria: evidence of crystallization in a boiled melt/fluid?

<p>The territory of Syria is a classic area of intraplate Neogene-Quaternary plateau basaltic magmatism (Ponikarov et al., 1969; Sharkov, 2000; Lustrino, Sharkov, 2006; Trifonov et al., 2011, etc.). These basalts belong to the Afro-Arabian large igneous province (LIP) (Ernst, 2014), whose origin, according to geophysical data, is related to the ascent of a mantle thermochemical plume that originated at the liquid iron core-silicate mantle boundary of (Hansen et al., 2012).</p><p>The basalt plateaus of Syria have a similar structure and are formed by numerous basaltic flows, as well as scoria and pyroclastic cones, often containing mantle xenoliths. Approximately 80% of them are represented by green spinel lherzolites and harzburgites, and subordinate amount (~20 %) of xenoliths belong to black series (hornblendite, hornblende clinopyroxenites, clinopyroxenites, phlogopitites, etc., as well as megacrysts of kaersutite, clinopyroxene, ilmenite, sanidine, etc.). Some of the kaersutite megacrysts have unusual “bubbled” structure, containing oval cavities up to 3-4 mm in diameter. We believe that these xenoliths are fragments of the upper cooled margin of the mantle plume above the adiabatic melting zone (Sharkov et al., 2017). Thus, they probe substance of mantle plume and bear important information about the processes within its interior.</p><p>As previously shown (Sharkov et al., 2017), the black series rocks were formed from a melt/fluid released fluid during the incongruent ("secondary") melting of the mantle plume head at the final stage of the magmatic system evolution. The crystallization of this fluid-supersaturated melt could be accompanied by its retrograde boiling, which led to the appearance of "bubbled" crystals.</p><p> </p>

FEATURES OF MELTING IN THE THERMOCHEMICAL PLUME CONDUIT AND HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER DURING CRYSTALLIZATION DIFFERENTIATION OF BASALTIC MELT IN A MUSHROOM-SHAPED PLUME HEAD

The number Ka=N/N1is used to evaluate the thermal power of a plume;Nis the thermal power transferred from the plume base to its conduit, andN1is the thermal power transferred from the plume conduit into the surrounding mantle. At the relative thermal power 1.9<Ka<10, after eruption of the melt from the plume conduit to the surface, melting occurs in the crustal block above the plume roof, resulting in the formation of a mushroom-shaped head of the plume. A thermochemical plume originates at the core-mantle boundary and ascends (melts up) to the surface. Based on laboratory and theoretical modeling data, we present the flow structure of melt in the conduit and the head of the thermochemical plume. The features of melting in the plume conduit are elucidated on the basis of the phase diagram of the CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2model system. The two upper convection cells of the plume conduit relate to the region of basic and ultrabasic compositions. Our study shows that melting in these cells proceeds according to monovariant equilibria of eutectic type L=Cpx+Opx+An+Sp and L=Fo+An+Cpx+Opx. In case of the CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–Na2O system, crystallization differentiation proceeds as separation of plagioclase crystals. Separation of plagioclase crystals enriched in anorthite component leads to enrichment of the residual melt in silica and alkaline components. Assuming the initial basaltic melt, we calculated the compositional changes in the melt, which are powered by the heat and mass transfer processes in the mushroom-shaped plume head. The calculations were performed in two stages: (1) after settling of refractory minerals; (2) after settling of plagioclase in the melt resulting from the first stage. In the second stage, the melt contains 88.5 % of plagioclase component. The calculations were performed for melt temperatureTmelt=1410 °C and pressureP=2.6 kbar and 6.3 kbar. The calculated weight contents of oxides, the normative compositions for solid phase, and the oxide content and normative composition for the residual melt were tabulated. The SiO2content in the residual melt amounts to 59.6–62.3 % and corresponds to the crustal SiO2content.