Fe-Cu-S rich melts in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle: insight from the Lower Silesian (SW Poland) xenoliths

Author(s):  
Hubert Mazurek ◽  
Jakub Ciążela ◽  
Magdalena Matusiak-Małek ◽  
Jacek Puziewicz ◽  
Theodoros Ntaflos

<p>Migration of strategic metals through the lithospheric mantle can be tracked by sulfides in mantle xenoliths. Cenozoic mafic volcanic rocks from the SW Poland (Lower Silesia, Bohemian Massif) host a variety of subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) xenoliths. To understand metal migration in the SCLM we studied metal budget of peridotites from the Wilcza Góra basanite and their metasomatic history.</p><p>The Wilcza Góra xenoliths are especially appropriate to study metasomatic processes as they consist of 1) peridotites with Ol<sub>Fo=89.1-91.5 </sub>representing depleted mantle (group A); 2) peridotites with Ol<sub>Fo=84.2-89.2</sub> representing melt-metasomatized mantle (group B), as well as 3) hornblende-clinopyroxenites and websterites with Ol<sub>Fo=77.2-82.5</sub> representing former melt  channels (group C; Matusiak-Małek et al., 2017). The inherent sulfides are either interstitial or enclosed in the silicates. High-temperature exsolutions of pyrrhotite (Po), pentlandite (Pn) and chalcopyrite (Ccp) indicate magmatic origin of the sulfides.</p><p>The three peridotitic groups differ by sulfide mode and composition. The sulfide modes are enhanced in group C (0.022-0.963 vol.‰) and group B (<0.028 vol. ‰) with respect to group A (<0.002 vol.‰). The sulfides of group C are Ni-poor and Fe-Cu-rich as reflected in their mineral composition (Po<sub>55-74</sub>Ccp<sub>1-2</sub>Pn<sub>24-44</sub> in group A, Po<sub>67-85</sub>Ccp<sub>1-6</sub>Pn<sub>14-33</sub>, in group B and Po<sub>80-97</sub>Ccp<sub>1-7</sub>Pn<sub>2-20 </sub>in group C) and major element chemical composition. Ni/(Ni+Fe) of pentlandite is the lowest in group C (~0.25) and the highest in group A (0.54-0.61). Cu/(Cu+Fe) of chalcopyrite is 0.32-0.49 in group C contrasting to~0.50 in groups A and B. </p><p>The sulfide-rich xenoliths of group C indicate an important role of pyroxenitic veins in transporting Fe-Cu-S-rich melts from the upper mantle to the crust. However, the moderately enhanced sulfide modes in melt-mantle reaction zones represented by xenoliths of group B demonstrate that the upper continental mantle is refertilized with these melts during their ascent. Hence, significant portion of S and metals remains in the mantle never reaching the crust, as has been previously observed in the oceanic lithosphere (Ciazela et al., 2018).</p><p> </p><p><strong>Acknowledgments:</strong> This study was supported by the NCN project no. UMO-2014/15/B/ST10/00095. The EPMA analyses were funded from the Polish-Austrian project WTZ PL 08/2018.</p><p> </p><p><strong>References:</strong></p><p>Ciazela, J., Koepke, J., Dick, H. J. B., Botcharnikov, R., Muszynski, A., Lazarov, M., Schuth, S., Pieterek, B. & Kuhn, T. (2018). Sulfide enrichment at an oceanic crust-mantle transition zone: Kane Megamullion (23 N, MAR). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 230, 155-189</p><p>Matusiak-Małek, M., Puziewicz, J., Ntaflos, T., Grégoire, M., Kukuła, A. & Wojtulek P.   M. (2017). Origin and evolution of rare amphibole-bearing mantle peridotites from Wilcza Góra (SW Poland), Central Europe. Lithos 286–287, 302–323.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Mazurek ◽  
Jakub Ciazela ◽  
Magdalena Matusiak-Małek ◽  
Bartosz Pieterek ◽  
Jacek Puziewicz ◽  
...  

<p>Migration of metals such as gold, silver and copper through the subcontinental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) can be tracked by the investigation of sulfides in mantle xenoliths. Therefore, to understand relations between the metal migration and metasomatism of silicate phases in the SCLM beneath SW Poland we studied sulfides in a set of mantle ultramafic xenoliths with variable metasomatic history. The xenoliths occur in the Cenozoic alkaline mafic volcanic rocks from the SW Poland (N Bohemian Massif).  </p><p>The studied sulfides occur in mantle rocks of variable history: 1) strongly depleted (group A0) to weakly metasomatized peridotites (Group A1); 2) strongly melt-metasomatized peridotites (Group B); 3) pyroxenites (Group C; for details of group definition see Matusiak-Małek et al., 2014, JoP). The metasomatism was of mixed silicate/carbonatite nature. The sulfides are either interstitial or enclosed in the silicates and form mostly globular monosulfide solid solution-chalcopyrite (mss-Ccp) assemblages typical of igneous sulfides separated and crystallized from mafic magmas, with mss partially re-equilibrated to exsolutions of pentlandite (Pn) and pyrrhotite (Po) when temperature dropped to <600°C (e.g., Craig and Kullerud, 1969, Econ. Geol. Monogr.).</p><p>The sulfide abundances increase from Group A (≤ 0.008 vol.‰) through Group B (up to 0.060 vol. ‰) to Group C (up to 0.963 vol.‰) xenoliths. The sulfides of Groups C (Po<sub>15–99</sub>Pn<sub>0–20</sub>Ccp<sub>0–70</sub>)<sub></sub>and B (Po<sub>0–85</sub>Pn<sub>14–100</sub>Ccp<sub>0–27</sub>) are generally poorer in Ni compared to Group A (Po<sub>0–74</sub>Pn<sub>24–100</sub>Ccp<sub>0–35</sub>). Consequently, Ni/(Ni+Fe) in the Group C pentlandites (0.41–0.52) is lower than in those in Group A (0.45–0.69). Moreover, the sulfide grains of Group B are enriched in chalcophile elements (e.g., the median content of Zn is 90 ppm) compared to sulfides from Groups C (52 ppm Zn) and A (51 ppm of Zn). The same relations occur in PGE contents, e.g., Pt in Group B is 1.6 ppm, while in Groups C and A it is 0.1 and 1.3 ppm, respectively.  Observed differences in δ<sup>56</sup>Fe between the Groups are probably due to modal composition of bulk sulfide grains between Groups A (Ni-rich), B and C (Fe-Cu-rich). As no difference is observed between the grains of the same composition, any fractionation of Fe isotopes in sulfide melt seems to be possible only upon its differentiation from Ni-rich to Fe-Cu-rich.</p><p>The host peridotites were affected by strong depletion as the degree of partial melting was possibly ~30%. Thus, the observed enhanced sulfide modes in the metasomatized peridotites (Groups A1 and B) are most likely brought by the metasomatic melt. This is also evidenced by their Fe-Cu-rich composition, similar to that of the sulfides from the pyroxenites. In this view, melt metasomatism likely affects the chalcophile and highly-siderophile metal budget of the continental lithosphere.</p><p> </p><p>The measurements of Fe isotopic ratios were financed from funds for years 2020-2024 within program “Diamond Grant” (DI2019 0093 49), the LAICPMS measurements were financed from 2016/23/N/ST10/00288 to J.C., and the EPMA analyses were done within the frame of the Polish-Austrian project WTZ PL/16 and WTZ PL 08/2018.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. M56-2019-44
Author(s):  
Philip T. Leat ◽  
Aidan J. Ross ◽  
Sally A. Gibson

AbstractAbundant mantle-derived ultramafic xenoliths occur in Cenozoic (7.7-1.5 Ma) mafic alkaline volcanic rocks along the former active margin of West Antarctica, that extends from the northern Antarctic Peninsula to Jones Mountains. The xenoliths are restricted to post-subduction volcanic rocks that were emplaced in fore-arc or back-arc positions relative to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Antarctic Peninsula volcanic arc. The xenoliths are spinel-bearing, include harzburgites, lherzolites, wehrlites and pyroxenites, and provide the only direct evidence of the composition of the lithospheric mantle underlying most of the margin. The harzburgites may be residues of melt extraction from the upper mantle (in a mid-ocean ridge type setting), that accreted to form oceanic lithosphere, which was then subsequently tectonically emplaced along the active Gondwana margin. An exposed highly-depleted dunite-serpentinite upper mantle complex on Gibbs Island, South Shetland Islands, supports this interpretation. In contrast, pyroxenites, wehrlites and lherzolites reflect percolation of mafic alkaline melts through the lithospheric mantle. Volatile and incompatible trace element compositions imply that these interacting melts were related to the post-subduction magmatism which hosts the xenoliths. The scattered distribution of such magmatism and the history of accretion suggest that the dominant composition of sub-Antarctic Peninsula lithospheric mantle is likely to be harzburgitic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexander Joseph McCoy-West

<p>The Lookout Volcanics are the remnants of an extensive sheet of mid-Cretaceous (ca. 96 Ma) continental intraplate volcanic rocks erupted just prior to the rifting of New Zealand from Gondwana. Preserved in a fault angle depression bounded by the Awatere Fault located in Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, the volcanic rocks cover an area of ca. 50 km2 with exposed thicknesses up to 1000 m. On the basis of stratigraphic evidence the dominantly terrestrial lavas flows are inferred to have erupted from dykes of a coeval radial dyke swarm. A detailed sampling of the lava flows of the Lookout Volcanics has been undertaken with a ca. 700 m composite stratigraphic section being constructed, largely based on a continuous sequence of lava flows outcropping in Middlehurst Stream. New Rb-Sr age constraints for the Lookout Volcanics (97.6 plus or minus 3.4 Ma) and Blue Mountain Igneous Complex (97.1 plus or minus 0.7 Ma) are consistent with previous radiometric dates of plutonic complexes in the Central Marlborough Igneous Complex, and suggest a rapid accumulation of volcanic material from ca. 98-96 Ma during the initial extension of proto-New Zealand. The predominantly mafic and alkaline samples include basalt, picrobasalt, basanite, trachybasalt and basaltic trachyandesite rock types. No samples represent primary magmas with all samples having undergone fractionation (or accumulation) of olivine plus clinopyroxene plus or minus plagioclase plus or minus Fe-Ti oxides. Initial Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopic variations (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7030-0.7039; 143Nd/144Nd = 0.51272-0.51264; 176Hf/177Hf = 0.28283-0.28278; 206Pb/204Pb = 20.32-18.82) reflect mixing between melts of a HIMUlike mantle component with up to 25-30% of an Early Cretaceous upper crustal component. Oxygen isotope ratios determined by laser fluorination analysis from 6 lava flows yielded delta 18O = 4.7-5.0 per thousand for olivine, 4.8-5.4 per thousand in clinopyroxene cores, 3.9-5.5 per thousand in clinopyroxene rims. Average olivine (4.8 per thousand) and clinopyroxene core (5.1 per thousand) values are 0.4-0.5 per thousand lower than those of average mantle peridotite but comparable to those of HIMU OIB, and are consistent with New Zealand intraplate magmas being generated by a low delta 18O mantle. However, oxygen isotopic disequilibrium between clinopyroxene cores and rims (Delta 18O = -1.4 to +0.3) records the overprinting of this signature by crustal processes. Negative disequilibrium between clinopyroxene rims and cores in primitive samples suggests these phenocrysts grew in a shallow crustal magma chamber with an active meteoric water system. The effects of crustal assimilation can also be observed with clinopyroxene phenocrysts from the most evolved sample exhibiting coupled elevated delta 18O and 87Sr/86Sr. Variations in incompatible trace element ratios are consistent with the Lookout Volcanics being the small degree (2-5%) partial melts of an amphibole-bearing garnet pyroxenite. Furthermore, the elevated NiO contents of olivine phenocrysts are consistent with melting of a pyroxenitic mantle source. The presence of residual amphibole constrains melting to the hydrous subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The Lookout Volcanics and coeval plutonic complexes are the oldest occurrences of HIMU magmatism in Zealandia. This source was generated by small degree silicate melts from recycled oceanic lithosphere that metasomatised the base of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath East Gondwana over 200 Ma ago.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alexander Joseph McCoy-West

<p>The Lookout Volcanics are the remnants of an extensive sheet of mid-Cretaceous (ca. 96 Ma) continental intraplate volcanic rocks erupted just prior to the rifting of New Zealand from Gondwana. Preserved in a fault angle depression bounded by the Awatere Fault located in Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, the volcanic rocks cover an area of ca. 50 km2 with exposed thicknesses up to 1000 m. On the basis of stratigraphic evidence the dominantly terrestrial lavas flows are inferred to have erupted from dykes of a coeval radial dyke swarm. A detailed sampling of the lava flows of the Lookout Volcanics has been undertaken with a ca. 700 m composite stratigraphic section being constructed, largely based on a continuous sequence of lava flows outcropping in Middlehurst Stream. New Rb-Sr age constraints for the Lookout Volcanics (97.6 plus or minus 3.4 Ma) and Blue Mountain Igneous Complex (97.1 plus or minus 0.7 Ma) are consistent with previous radiometric dates of plutonic complexes in the Central Marlborough Igneous Complex, and suggest a rapid accumulation of volcanic material from ca. 98-96 Ma during the initial extension of proto-New Zealand. The predominantly mafic and alkaline samples include basalt, picrobasalt, basanite, trachybasalt and basaltic trachyandesite rock types. No samples represent primary magmas with all samples having undergone fractionation (or accumulation) of olivine plus clinopyroxene plus or minus plagioclase plus or minus Fe-Ti oxides. Initial Sr-Nd-Hf-Pb isotopic variations (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7030-0.7039; 143Nd/144Nd = 0.51272-0.51264; 176Hf/177Hf = 0.28283-0.28278; 206Pb/204Pb = 20.32-18.82) reflect mixing between melts of a HIMUlike mantle component with up to 25-30% of an Early Cretaceous upper crustal component. Oxygen isotope ratios determined by laser fluorination analysis from 6 lava flows yielded delta 18O = 4.7-5.0 per thousand for olivine, 4.8-5.4 per thousand in clinopyroxene cores, 3.9-5.5 per thousand in clinopyroxene rims. Average olivine (4.8 per thousand) and clinopyroxene core (5.1 per thousand) values are 0.4-0.5 per thousand lower than those of average mantle peridotite but comparable to those of HIMU OIB, and are consistent with New Zealand intraplate magmas being generated by a low delta 18O mantle. However, oxygen isotopic disequilibrium between clinopyroxene cores and rims (Delta 18O = -1.4 to +0.3) records the overprinting of this signature by crustal processes. Negative disequilibrium between clinopyroxene rims and cores in primitive samples suggests these phenocrysts grew in a shallow crustal magma chamber with an active meteoric water system. The effects of crustal assimilation can also be observed with clinopyroxene phenocrysts from the most evolved sample exhibiting coupled elevated delta 18O and 87Sr/86Sr. Variations in incompatible trace element ratios are consistent with the Lookout Volcanics being the small degree (2-5%) partial melts of an amphibole-bearing garnet pyroxenite. Furthermore, the elevated NiO contents of olivine phenocrysts are consistent with melting of a pyroxenitic mantle source. The presence of residual amphibole constrains melting to the hydrous subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The Lookout Volcanics and coeval plutonic complexes are the oldest occurrences of HIMU magmatism in Zealandia. This source was generated by small degree silicate melts from recycled oceanic lithosphere that metasomatised the base of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath East Gondwana over 200 Ma ago.</p>


Geology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 733-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weikai Li ◽  
Zhiming Yang ◽  
Massimo Chiaradia ◽  
Yong Lai ◽  
Chao Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract The redox state of Earth’s upper mantle in several tectonic settings, such as cratonic mantle, oceanic mantle, and mantle wedges beneath magmatic arcs, has been well documented. In contrast, oxygen fugacity () data of upper mantle under orogens worldwide are rare, and the mechanism responsible for the mantle condition under orogens is not well constrained. In this study, we investigated the of mantle xenoliths derived from the southern Tibetan lithospheric mantle beneath the Himalayan orogen, and that of postcollisional ultrapotassic volcanic rocks hosting the xenoliths. The of mantle xenoliths ranges from ΔFMQ = +0.5 to +1.2 (where ΔFMQ is the deviation of log from the fayalite-magnetite-quartz buffer), indicating that the southern Tibetan lithospheric mantle is more oxidized than cratonic and oceanic mantle, and it falls within the typical range of mantle wedge values. Mineralogical evidence suggests that water-rich fluids and sediment melts liberated from both the subducting Neo-Tethyan oceanic slab and perhaps the Indian continental plate could have oxidized the southern Tibetan lithospheric mantle. The conditions of ultrapotassic magmas show a shift toward more oxidized conditions during ascent (from ΔFMQ = +0.8 to +3.0). Crustal evolution processes (e.g., fractionation) could influence magmatic , and thus the redox state of mantle-derived magma may not simply represent its mantle source.


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