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    Effects of Melt Percolation on Zn Isotope Heterogeneity in the Mantle: Constraints From Peridotite Massifs in Ivrea‐Verbano Zone, Italian Alps
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    Abstract:
    Abstract We determined Zn isotopic compositions of 21 orogenic peridotites from the Baldissero and Balmuccia peridotite massifs in Ivrea‐Verbano Zone, Italian Alps, to investigate Zn isotope behaviors during partial melting and melt percolation in the mantle. The samples include lherzolites, harzburgites, and dunites. Lherzolites are strongly depleted in light rare earth element relative to middle and heavy rare earth element with (La/Sm) PM from 0.009 to 0.265 and (La/Yb) PM from 0.003 to 0.125, which can be explained by 5–15% fractional melting of a primitive mantle source. Harzburgites and dunites with nearly identical Mg# (molar 100 * Mg/(Mg + Fe) = 90.2–91.0) have (La/Sm) PM and (La/Yb) PM higher than but Zn contents similar to or lower than those of the parental lherzolites, suggesting that they were influenced by Zn‐depleted silicate melt percolation. Lherzolites have δ 66 Zn from 0.13 to 0.27‰ showing no correlations with indicators of melt extraction (e.g., Al 2 O 3 , Mg#, and La/Yb) and Zn contents. Three sulfide melt‐affected lherzolites show similar δ 66 Zn to the other normal ones. These observations indicate that 5–15% partial melting and sulfide melt percolation cause limited Zn isotope variations in the mantle. The metasomatic harzburgites and dunites display high δ 66 Zn (up to 0.46‰) negatively correlated with Zn contents. Such correlations are attributed to kinetic effect during silicate melt percolation, whereby 64 Zn preferentially diffuses out from mantle minerals (e.g., olivine) to the percolating silicate melts. A diffusion model suggests that the negative correlation between δ 66 Zn and Zn contents in dunites can be explained by an empirical β Zn (i.e., β Zn ‐exponent in D 66Zn / D 64Zn = (m 64Zn /m 66Zn ) βZn ) of 0.05–0.06 in olivine.
    Keywords:
    Peridotite
    Metasomatism
    Massif
    Radiogenic nuclide
    Abstract The proton microprobe has been used to determine contents of Ca, Ti, Ni, Mn and Zn in the olivine of 54 spinel lherzolite xenoliths from Australian and Chinese basalts. These data are compared with proton-probe data for Ni, Mn and Zn in the olivine of 180 garnet peridotite xenoliths from African and Siberian kimberlites. Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn contents are well-correlated; because the spinel lherzolite olivines have higher mean Fe contents than garnet peridotite olivines (average Fo 89.6 vs. Fo 90–92 ) they also have lower Ni and higher Mn contents. Zn and Fe are well-correlated in garnet peridotite olivine, but in spinel peridotites this relationship is perturbed by partitioning of Zn into spinel. None of these elements shows significant correlation with temperature. Consistent differences in trace-element contents of olivines in the two suites is interpreted as reflecting the greater degree of depletion of Archean garnet peridotites as compared to Phanerozoic spinel lherzolites. Ca and Ti contents of spinel-peridotite olivine are well correlated with one another, and with temperature as determined by several types of geothermometer. However, Ca contents are poorly correlated with pressure as determined by the Ca-in-olivine barometer of Köhler and Brey (1990). This reflects the strong T -dependence of this barometer: the uncertainty in pressure (calculated by this method) which is produced by the ±50°C uncertainty expected of any geothermometer is ca ± 8 kbar, corresponding to the entire width of the spinel-lherzolite field at 900–1200°C.
    Peridotite
    Xenolith
    Subduction of oceanic crust buries an average thickness of 300–500 m of sediment that eventually dehydrates or partially melts. Progressive release of fluid/melt metasomatizes the fore-arc mantle, forming serpentinite at low temperatures and phlogopite-bearing pyroxenite where slab surface reaches 700–900 °C. This is sufficiently high to partially melt subducted sediments before they approach the depths where arc magmas are formed. Here, we present experiments on reactions between melts of subducted sediments and peridotite at 2–6 GPa/750–1100 °C, which correspond to the surface of a subducting slab. The reaction of volatile-bearing partial melts derived from sediments with depleted peridotite leads to separation of elements and a layered arrangement of metasomatic phases, with layers consisting of orthopyroxene, mica-pyroxenite, and clinopyroxenite. The selective incorporation of elements in these metasomatic layers closely resembles chemical patterns found in K-rich magmas. Trace elements were imaged using LA-ICP-TOFMS, which is applied here to investigate the distribution of trace elements within the metasomatic layers. Experiments of different duration enabled estimates of the growth of the metasomatic front, which ranges from 1–5 m/ky. These experiments explain the low contents of high-field strength elements in arc magmas as being due to their loss during melting of sedimentary materials in the fore-arc.
    Metasomatism
    Peridotite
    Phlogopite
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