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Variations in melting dynamics and mantle compositions along the Eastern Volcanic Zone of the Gakkel Ridge: insights from olivine-hosted melt inclusions

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Abstract

We present major element, trace element, and volatile concentrations from 66 naturally glassy, olivine-hosted melt inclusions erupted along the Eastern Volcanic Zone (EVZ) of the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel Ridge. Melt inclusion compositions suggest that there are systematic variations in the mantle source composition and melting dynamics from the eastern to the western end of the EVZ. This includes increasing water contents and highly incompatible trace element concentrations (e.g., Ba and Nb) and decreasing light and middle rare earth element concentrations. Ratios of light to heavy rare earth elements in the easternmost melt inclusions are relatively homogeneous, but become more variable to the west. To determine the source of the geochemical variability observed along the EVZ, we model trace elements associated with mantle melting in one- and two-component systems. We consider four possible mantle sources and a range of melting regime shapes, from a full melting triangle to a vertical melting column centered beneath the ridge axes. The observed geochemical variations can be explained by melting of a heterogeneous mantle source composed of depleted MORB mantle plus a metasomatized mantle, where the proportion of the metasomatized component and the extent of melting increases toward the west. Lower rare earth element concentrations and trace element ratios in the westernmost sites also suggest inefficient melt focusing from the outer edges of the melting region. Our results indicate that despite variations in the size of the melting zone and the composition of the mantle source along the ridge axis, the region over which the melts are pooled back to the ridge axis is relatively constant (~10–20 km), suggesting that there is a limit to the distance melts can be transported from off-axis in ultraslow-spreading environments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank B. Monteleone at the WHOI ion microprobe facility, R. Hervick and L. Williams at ASU ion microprobe facility, and N. Chatterjee at the MIT electron microprobe facility for their analytical assistance. G. Toltin is thanked for his help with sample preparation and H. Dick for supplying the EVZ samples. We thank the editor and an anonymous reviewer for their comments. This work was supported by NSF Grant OCE-0926422 (AMS), OCE-PRF-1226130 (VDW), EAR-09-48666 (MDB), and internal Grants from DOEI at WHOI (VDW & MDB).

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  1. A. M. Shaw

    Present address: Lorax Environmental Services Ltd., 2289 Burrard St., Vancouver, BC, Canada

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  1. Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    V. D. Wanless, M. D. Behn & A. M. Shaw

  2. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Columbia University, PO Box 1000, 61 Rte 9 W, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA

    T. Plank

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Wanless, V.D., Behn, M.D., Shaw, A.M. et al. Variations in melting dynamics and mantle compositions along the Eastern Volcanic Zone of the Gakkel Ridge: insights from olivine-hosted melt inclusions. Contrib Mineral Petrol 167, 1005 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-014-1005-7

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