Coupled major and trace elements as indicators of the extent of melting in mid-ocean-ridge peridotites

Eric Hellebrand (), Jonathan E. Snow, Henry J. B. Dick and Albrecht W. Hofmann
Additional contact information
Eric Hellebrand: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Postfach 3060
Jonathan E. Snow: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Postfach 3060
Henry J. B. Dick: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Albrecht W. Hofmann: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Postfach 3060

Nature, 2001, vol. 410, issue 6829, 677-681

Abstract: Abstract Rocks in the Earth's uppermost sub-oceanic mantle, known as abyssal peridotites, have lost variable but generally large amounts of basaltic melt, which subsequently forms the oceanic crust1,2. This process preferentially removes from the peridotite some major constituents such as aluminium, as well as trace elements that are incompatible in mantle minerals (that is, prefer to enter the basaltic melt), such as the rare-earth elements3,4. A quantitative understanding of this important differentiation process has been hampered by the lack of correlation generally observed between major- and trace-element depletions in such peridotites. Here we show that the heavy rare-earth elements in abyssal clinopyroxenes that are moderately incompatible are highly correlated with the Cr/(Cr + Al) ratios of coexisting spinels. This correlation deteriorates only for the most highly incompatible elements—probably owing to late metasomatic processes. Using electron- and ion-microprobe data from residual abyssal peridotites collected on the central Indian ridge, along with previously published data, we develop a quantitative melting indicator for mantle residues. This procedure should prove useful for relating partial melting in peridotites to geodynamic variables such as spreading rate and mantle temperature.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35070546 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:410:y:2001:i:6829:d:10.1038_35070546

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35070546

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().