P. Kepezhinskas et al., PROGRESSIVE ENRICHMENT OF ISLAND-ARC MANTLE BY MELT-PERIDOTITE INTERACTION INFERRED FROM KAMCHATKA XENOLITHS, Geochimica et cosmochimica acta, 60(7), 1996, pp. 1217-1229
The Pliocene (7 Ma) Nb-enriched are basalts of the Valovayam Volcanic
Field (VVF) in the northern segment of Kamchatka are (Russia) host abu
ndant xenoliths of spinel peridotites and pyroxenites. Textural and mi
crostructural evidence for the high-temperature, multistage creep-rela
ted deformations in spinel peridotites supports a sub-are mantle deriv
ation. Pyroxenites show re-equilibrated mosaic textures, indicating re
crystallization during cooling under the ambient thermal conditions. T
hree textural groups of clinopyroxenes exhibit progressive enrichment
in Na, Al, Sr, La, and Ce accompanied by increase in Sr/Y, La/Yb, and
Zr/Sm. Trace elements in various mineral phases and from felsic veins
obtained through ion microprobe analysis suggest that the xenoliths ha
ve interacted with a siliceous (dacitic) melt completely unlike the ho
st basalt. The suite of xenoliths grade from examples that display lit
tle evidence of metasomatic reaction to those containing an assemblage
of minerals that have been reproduced experimentally from the reactio
n of a felsic melt with ultramafic rock, e.g., pargasitic amphibole, a
lbite-rich plagioclase, Al-rich augite, and garnet. The dacitic veins
within spinel Iherzolite display a strong enrichment in Sr and depleti
on in Y and the heavy rare earth elements (e.g., Yb). The dacites are
comparable to adakites (melts derived from subducted metabasalt), and
not typical are melts. We believe that these potential slab melts were
introduced into the mantle beneath this portion of Kamchatka subseque
nt to partial melting of a relatively young (and hot) subducted crust.
Island are metasomatism by peridotite-slab melt interaction is an imp
ortant mantle hybridization process responsible for are-related alkali
ne magma generation from a veined sub-are mantle.