TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental phase and melting relations of metapelite in the upper mantle
T2 - Implications for the petrogenesis of intraplate magmas
AU - Spandler, Carl
AU - Yaxley, Greg
AU - Green, David H.
AU - Scott, Dean
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - We performed a series of piston-cylinder experiments on a synthetic pelite starting material over a pressure and temperature range of 3.0-5.0 GPa and 1,100-1,600°C, respectively, to examine the melting behaviour and phase relations of sedimentary rocks at upper mantle conditions. The anhydrous pelite solidus is between 1,150 and 1,200°C at 3.0 GPa and close to 1,250°C at 5.0 GPa, whereas the liquidus is likely to be at 1,600°C or higher at all investigated pressures, giving a large melting interval of over 400°C. The subsolidus paragenesis consists of quartz/coesite, feldspar, garnet, kyanite, rutile, ±clinopyroxene ±apatite. Feldspar, rutile and apatite are rapidly melted out above the solidus, whereas garnet and kyanite are stable to high melt fractions (>70%). Clinopyroxene stability increases with increasing pressure, and quartz/coesite is the sole liquidus phase at all pressures. Feldspars are relatively Na-rich [K/(K + Na) = 0.4-0.5] at3.0 GPa, but are nearly pure K-feldspar at 5. 0 GPa. Clinopyroxenes are jadeite and Ca-eskolaite rich, with jadeite contents increasing with pressure. All supersolidus experiments produced alkaline dacitic melts with relatively constant SiO2 and Al2O3 contents. At 3.0 GPa, initial melting is controlled almost exclusively by feldspar and quartz, giving melts with K2O/Na2O ~1. At 4.0 and 5.0 GPa, low-fraction melting is controlled by jadeite-rich clinopyroxene and K-rich feldspar, which leads to compatible behaviour of Na and melts with K2O/Na2O ≫ 1. Our results indicate that sedimentary protoliths entrained in upwelling heterogeneous mantle domains may undergo melting at greater depths than mafic lithologies to produce ultrapotassic dacitic melts. Such melts are expected to react with and metasomatise the surrounding peridotite, which may subsequently undergo melting at shallower levels to produce compositionally distinct magma types. This scenario may account for many of the distinctive geochemical characteristics of EM-type ocean island magma suites. Moreover, unmelted or partially melted sedimentary rocks in the mantle may contribute to some seismic discontinuities that have been observed beneath intraplate and island-arc volcanic regions.
AB - We performed a series of piston-cylinder experiments on a synthetic pelite starting material over a pressure and temperature range of 3.0-5.0 GPa and 1,100-1,600°C, respectively, to examine the melting behaviour and phase relations of sedimentary rocks at upper mantle conditions. The anhydrous pelite solidus is between 1,150 and 1,200°C at 3.0 GPa and close to 1,250°C at 5.0 GPa, whereas the liquidus is likely to be at 1,600°C or higher at all investigated pressures, giving a large melting interval of over 400°C. The subsolidus paragenesis consists of quartz/coesite, feldspar, garnet, kyanite, rutile, ±clinopyroxene ±apatite. Feldspar, rutile and apatite are rapidly melted out above the solidus, whereas garnet and kyanite are stable to high melt fractions (>70%). Clinopyroxene stability increases with increasing pressure, and quartz/coesite is the sole liquidus phase at all pressures. Feldspars are relatively Na-rich [K/(K + Na) = 0.4-0.5] at3.0 GPa, but are nearly pure K-feldspar at 5. 0 GPa. Clinopyroxenes are jadeite and Ca-eskolaite rich, with jadeite contents increasing with pressure. All supersolidus experiments produced alkaline dacitic melts with relatively constant SiO2 and Al2O3 contents. At 3.0 GPa, initial melting is controlled almost exclusively by feldspar and quartz, giving melts with K2O/Na2O ~1. At 4.0 and 5.0 GPa, low-fraction melting is controlled by jadeite-rich clinopyroxene and K-rich feldspar, which leads to compatible behaviour of Na and melts with K2O/Na2O ≫ 1. Our results indicate that sedimentary protoliths entrained in upwelling heterogeneous mantle domains may undergo melting at greater depths than mafic lithologies to produce ultrapotassic dacitic melts. Such melts are expected to react with and metasomatise the surrounding peridotite, which may subsequently undergo melting at shallower levels to produce compositionally distinct magma types. This scenario may account for many of the distinctive geochemical characteristics of EM-type ocean island magma suites. Moreover, unmelted or partially melted sedimentary rocks in the mantle may contribute to some seismic discontinuities that have been observed beneath intraplate and island-arc volcanic regions.
KW - Crustal recycling
KW - Experimental petrology
KW - Mantle heterogeneity
KW - Oceanic basalt
KW - Sediment melting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77956400325&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00410-010-0494-2
DO - 10.1007/s00410-010-0494-2
M3 - Article
SN - 0010-7999
VL - 160
SP - 569
EP - 589
JO - Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
JF - Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
IS - 4
ER -