Abstract
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH,
VOL. 108,
2125,
17 PP., 2003
doi:10.1029/2000JB000118
Partial melting experiments on a MORB-like pyroxenite between 2 and 3 GPa: Constraints on the presence of pyroxenite in basalt source regions from solidus location and melting rate
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
We present partial melting experiments at 2–3 GPa on a basaltic pyroxenite (G2) similar in composition to typical oceanic crust. The 3.0 GPa solidus is located at 1310 ± 12°C and the liquidus is 1500–1525°C. Clinopyroxene, garnet, quartz, and rutile are subsolidus phases. Garnet, quartz, and rutile are absent above 1475°C, 1365°C, and 1335°C, respectively. At the solidus, the garnet mode is low (18 wt.%) because clinopyroxene is unusually aluminous (13.8–15.5 wt.% Al2O3). In adiabatically upwelling mantle near 2–3 GPa, G2-like pyroxenite begins melting 35–50 km deeper than peridotite. The calculated near-solidus adiabatic productivity for G2 is ∼13%/GPa and averages ∼59%/GPa through the melting interval, suggesting substantial partial melting deep in basalt source regions: G2 is ∼60% molten at the 3 GPa peridotite solidus. Small percentages of pyroxenite in the source significantly affect oceanic crust production and composition, as the proportion of pyroxenite-derived melt contributed to oceanic crust formation is 5 to >10 times the pyroxenite proportion in the source. Given the overall depleted isotopic character of mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB), oversampling of fertile G2-like pyroxenite limits the abundance of such lithologies to ∼<2% of the MORB source. Owing to high extents of partial melting, the effect of modest amounts of pyroxenite on Sm/Yb ratios of aggregated basalts is limited and depends largely on the average bulk composition of the pyroxenite source. Low near-solidus adiabatic productivities could allow small (∼1–2%) proportions of basaltic pyroxenite to enhance (230Th)/(238U) in oceanic basalts without requiring marked shifts in other indicators of heterogeneity, such as Sr or Pb isotopes.
Published 27 February 2003.
Citation: (2003), Partial melting experiments on a MORB-like pyroxenite between 2 and 3 GPa: Constraints on the presence of pyroxenite in basalt source regions from solidus location and melting rate, J. Geophys. Res., 108(B2), 2125, doi:10.1029/2000JB000118.
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