Magma supply in back-arc spreading centre segment e2, east Scotia Ridge

Segment E2 is situated in the back-arc East Scotia Ridge. The segment is un usual in that it has an axial topographic high underlain by a seismically i maged melt lens. The axis of the segment, which is 70 km long, was sampled at similar to 2 km spacing. There is strong correlation between composition s and bathymetry, and there is no evidence that lateral flow of magmas alon g dykes within the segment was more than 25 km. Magmas are more evolved tow ards the summit, indicating that magma fractionation took place within the imaged melt lens. Na-8.0 is roughly constant at similar to 2.6, implying un iform degree of partial melting, except for some samples at the summit that have Na-8.0 = 2.2. Compositions closest to N-MORB occur at the segment tip s, and LREE/HREE ratios increase toward the summit. None of the magmas were derived from depleted sub-arc mantle. Nevertheless, most compositions in t he segment were modified by slab-derived components. The low-Na-8.0 samples have high Ba/Nb compared with the rest of the segment. Dredged lavas from the lateral flanks of the summit have the most extreme compositions, includ ing ones derived from plume mantle, and are end-members for magma mixing pr ocesses that controlled compositions.