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Origin of Basalts

Basaltic magma originates from partial melting of the Earth's mantle. There are several sources of evidence for the composition of the mantle, including ophiolites, dredge samples from ocean ridges, and xenoliths contained in kimberlite pipes. Kimberlite xenoliths provide samples of mantle rock such as lherzolite, dunite, and harzburgite. The mantle can partially melt through processes such as increasing temperature via decompression as the mantle rises or by adding water, which lowers the melting point. Partial melting of a fertile mantle source such as lherzolite can generate basaltic magma.

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Ferdinand Siahaan
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43 views

Origin of Basalts

Basaltic magma originates from partial melting of the Earth's mantle. There are several sources of evidence for the composition of the mantle, including ophiolites, dredge samples from ocean ridges, and xenoliths contained in kimberlite pipes. Kimberlite xenoliths provide samples of mantle rock such as lherzolite, dunite, and harzburgite. The mantle can partially melt through processes such as increasing temperature via decompression as the mantle rises or by adding water, which lowers the melting point. Partial melting of a fertile mantle source such as lherzolite can generate basaltic magma.

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Ferdinand Siahaan
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Origin of Basaltic Magma

Table 18-4. A
Classification of
Granitoid Rocks Based
on Tectonic Setting.
After Pitcher (1983) in
K. J. Hsü (ed.),
Mountain Building
Processes, Academic
Press, London; Pitcher
(1993), The Nature and
Origin of Granite,
Blackie, London; and
Barbarin (1990) Geol.
Journal, 25, 227-238.
Winter (2001) An
Introduction to Igneous
and Metamorphic
Petrology. Prentice Hall.
Sources of mantle material
 Ophiolites
 Slabs of oceanic crust and upper mantle
 Thrust at subduction zones onto edge of continent
 Dredge samples from oceanic fracture zones
 Nodules and xenoliths in some basalts
 Kimberlite xenoliths
 Diamond-bearing pipes blasted up from the
mantle carrying numerous xenoliths from depth
Kimberlite xenoliths

Photo of Kimberley diamond min (South Africa) and two


examples of mantle xenoliths (peridotite [top] and garnet
Peridotite [bottom] from a kimberlite.
Lherzolite is probably fertile (undepleted) unaltered mantle
Dunite and harzburgite are refractory residuum after basalt has been
extracted by partial melting
15 Tholeiitic basalt
Ultramafic
rocks

g
tin
el
10 lM
tia
Wt.% Al2O3

r
Pa

5
Figure 10-1 Brown and Mussett,
A. E. (1993), The Inaccessible
Earth: An Integrated View of Its Lherzolite
Structure and Composition.
Chapman & Hall/Kluwer.

Harzburgite Residuum
Dunite
0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Wt.% TiO2
Lherzolite: A type of peridotite
with Olivine > Opx + Cpx
Olivine
Dunite
90

Peridotites

We
te

hr
i
urg

lite
rzb Lherzolite
Ha

40

Orthopyroxenite Olivine Websterite Pyroxenites


10

Websterite
10
Clinopyroxenite
Orthopyroxene Clinopyroxene

Figure 2-2 C After IUGS


Phase diagram for aluminous
4-phase lherzolite:
Al-phase =
 Plagioclase
 shallow (< 50 km)
 Spinel
 50-80 km
 Garnet
 80-400 km
 Si  VI coord.
 > 400 km
Figure 10-2 Phase diagram of aluminous lherzolite with melting interval (gray), sub-solidus
reactions, and geothermal gradient. After Wyllie, P. J. (1981). Geol. Rundsch. 70, 128-153.
How does the mantle melt??
1) Increase the temperature

Figure 10-3. Melting by raising the temperature.


2) Lower the pressure
 Adiabatic rise of mantle with no conductive heat loss
 Decompression melting could melt at least 30%

Figure 10-4. Melting by (adiabatic) pressure reduction. Melting begins when the adiabat crosses the
solidus and traverses the shaded melting interval. Dashed lines represent approximate % melting.
3) Add volatiles (especially H2O)

Figure 10-4. Dry peridotite solidus compared to several experiments on H2O-saturated peridotites.
Melts can be created under
realistic circumstances
 Plates separate and mantle rises at mid-
ocean ridges, or at continental rifts
 Adibatic rise  decompression melting

 Hot spots  localized plumes of melt


 Fluid fluxing
 Important in subduction zones
Figure 9-8. (a) after Pearce and Cann (1973), Earth Planet, Sci. Lett., 19,
19, 290-300.
290-300. (b) after Pearce (1982) in Thorpe (ed.),
Andesites: Orogenic andesites and related rocks. Wiley. Chichester. pp. 525-548 , Coish et al. (1986), Amer. J. Sci., 286,
286, 1-28.
1-28. (c)
after Mullen (1983), Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 62,
62, 53-62.

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